A Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial of a former Head of Service of the Federation and former Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force, Stephen Orosanye, yesterday told an Abuja High Court how the defendant opened a secret account in the name of the task force to divert about N190 million belonging to the Federal Government.
The witness, who is an employee of Access Bank Plc., Olubunmi Ojoko, told the court that Orosanye opened the Access Bank account on behalf of the PCFATF in 2012, without obtaining an approval from the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“He (Oronsaye) called me that he needed to open an account on behalf of the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force. “I met him at his residence in Asokoro, where I handed him the documents for the account, including the Access Bank account opening request of the committee signed by him, his passport photograph, copy of his passport and documents that set up the committee by the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“I scrutinised the documents and discovered that the Accountant-General of the Federation’s approval was not included. So, I asked him for it and he said it was not necessary. I asked for the Accountant- General of the Federation’s approval because it is needed when opening a government account.
Since he said that it wasn’t necessary, I took him by his word. “I took the documents to the bank and the account was opened,” she stated when being led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC’s) prosecuting counsel, Ufom Uket.
The witness further told the court that she never met any other member of the committee, including Mr. Jalal Arabi, a counsel in the Presidential Villa, who served as the secretary to the committee; throughout the period the account was operated.
She added that there were a total of four lodgements into the account from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other cash deposits, adding that the lodgements totalled N285 million, part of which were invested in fixed deposits with part of the interests that accrued re-invested.
Ojoko further stated that as of the time the account was closed, Oronsaye had withdrawn from the account about N150 million, which was partly the accrued interests on the investments, through cheques which he allegedly issued in favour of himself and various beneficiaries. Highlighting the inflow of cash into the account, the witness stated that, “the first transfer was N50 million in October 2012.
The second, which was in April 2012, was N90 million from the CBN. In May 2013, there was another cash lodgement of N45 million. The fourth lodgement of N100 million came in December 2014 from CBN. Ojoko said:
“After the first lodgement (of N50 million from CBN) several cheques were drawn by the defendant (Oronsaye) in favour of various beneficiaries. “The second inflow of N90 million was invested in fixed deposit account.
It was fixed in Banker’s Acceptance, which is a form of investment, for 90 days at 9 per cent. On maturity, the N45 million (the third inflow) had come and it was fixed for 90 days.
“Upon maturity, they (the investments) were usually rolled over on the instruction of Mr. Stephen Oronsaye and the interest were credited into his current account. “The N100 million (the fourth inflow) came in December 2014 and it was placed in fixed in Banker’s Acceptance for 90 days.
“The total of investments and rollovers were about N280 million. About N150 million interests accrued on all the investments. “Now, the account is at zero balance after the N163.5 million in it was transferred to the Treasury Single Account.”
The witness was led to read from the statement of the account, which was tendered and admitted by the court without any objection from the defence. The account opening package, bank statements, mandate documents raised by Oronsaye and other documents relating to the account were also admitted as exhibits.
The trial judge, Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, however adjourned till today for cross-examination of the witness The EFCC had, on March 15, 2016, arraigned Oronsaye on two-count charge of breach of trust which he allegedly committed between 2013 and 2014 by defrauding the Federal Government of N190 million using his position as the then Chairman of the Presidential Committee on FATF.
