A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Hamma-Adama Bello, today, testified at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
He gave insights into how the former Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, allegedly employed her personal companies to launder government funds during her tenure.
Taking the stand before Justice James Omotosho, Bello, a Chief Superintendent at the EFCC who heads its Special Investigation Team (SIT), served as the 8th prosecution witness (PW8) in the case.
During the proceedings, led in evidence by the EFCC’s legal representative, Farouk Abdullah, the eighth prosecution witness (PW8), mentioned that his team received intelligence from the office of the chairman of the anti-graft agency in 2019.
Bello said, “The intelligence bordered on the activities of the first defendant (Oyo-Ita), her minister then in the Ministry of Special Duty and Inter-Governmental Affairs, where she was serving.
“The first defendant was the permanent secretary then, and other workers that include Mr. Ubong Effiok, the seventh defendant. The team developed intelligence and started the investigation. In the course of the investigation, we called for documents.
“The nature of the intelligence was such that the first and seventh defendants and a host of others were using their offices to get contracts for companies they incorporated or have interest in.”
Bello stated that following the receipt and analysis of documents related to the intelligence, the investigative team invited both Winifred Oyo-Ita and her Special Assistant, Ubong Effiok, for further inquiry.
“The team had an interaction with them, and in the cause of the interaction, Mr. Garba Umar, who is also the fourth defendant, became a person of interest for the investigation, and he was invited. We also had an interaction with him,” he said.
According to the witness, the investigation uncovered that the first defendant, Winifred Oyo-Ita, was identified as the beneficial owner of two companies – Frontline Ace Global Services Limited and Asanaya Projects Limited.
“We also discovered that the first defendant also has interest in Asanaya Farms Limited,” he added.
Bello informed the court that the investigation further disclosed that Winifred Oyo-Ita held two accounts in Zenith Bank Plc for Frontline Ace Global Services Limited.
Additionally, the PW8 stated that it was revealed that the former Head of Service had, on numerous occasions, served as Chairman and CEO of Frontline Ace Global Services Limited, issuing resolutions for the opening of the aforementioned accounts.
“Having analysed these two board resolutions issued by the first defendant, the team realised that the first defendant is the beneficial owner of the accounts.
“We carried out a careful analysis of the account she was closing and came to a conclusion that about N124 million had passed through the account.
“We realised that there were payments in 2010 from the Federal Ministry of Power into the account and other agencies, like Power Holding Company of Nigeria (when it was a government’s agency).
“These payments were from government coffers while she was serving as a deputy director in the same ministry,” Bello told the court.
Justice Omotosho adjourned the proceedings, scheduling the continuation of the trial for January 26.