The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday, tendered 108 Zenith bank Plc’s cheques before a Federal High Court, Lagos, which were allegedly used by Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode and others in alleged N4.9 billion fraud case.
Fani-Kayode, who was the Director of Publicity of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign organisation for the 2015 election, was accused of conspiring with the others to, directly and indirectly, retain various sums which the EFCC claimed they ought to have reasonably known were proceeds of crime.
In one of the counts, the defendants were accused of conspiring among themselves to “indirectly retain the sum of N1,500, 000,000.00 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act to wit: stealing”.
The four were also accused of indirectly retaining N300m, N400m and N800m, all proceeds of corruption, according to EFCC.
Fani-Kayode was accused of directly using parts of the money at various times, including a N250,650,000.00, which he allegedly used between March 20 and 25, 2015.
Fani-Kayode was also accused of making a cash transaction of N24m with one Olubode Oke, said to still be at large, on February 12, 2015 “to Paste Poster Co of 125, Lewis Street, Lagos Island.”
The duo were said to have made the transaction without going through any financial institution, an act the EFCC claimed was contrary to sections 1(a) and 16(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012, and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, one of the EFCC’s investigator, Shuaibu Shehu, while being led-in-evidence by the prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, tendered 108 Zenith Bank Plc’s cheques, which he told the court were recovered in the course of his investigation into the matter.
The cheques were marked as exhibit 11(1-108).
The EFCC witness when asked by the prosecutor who was beneficiary of the cheques, said 103 of the cheques showed the names of the second defendant (Fani-Kayode). Adding that the cheques were drawn from the second defendant’s account with Zenith bank.
“100 cheques were of cash withdrawal, 96 of the cheques were withdrawn from the account of the second defendant. One of the cheques is N2 million, N5,0100 million, N5.650 million and N3.5050 million. All were drawn from second defendant’s account”, the witness stated.
Shuaibu also told stated that the second defendant issued a cheque of N22 million in favour of one Onigbinde on March 16, 2015, another cheque of N20, 340 million in favour of one Ojeifo Sofia on February, 2015, another cheque of N10 million for Jariley limited on January 30, 2015 and that the second defendant, Fani-Kayode withdrawn the sum of N5.650 million, N5.1 million, N2 million and N3.555 million respectively.
He further told the court that Jointrust Dimension Limited, the fourth defendant in the charge, issued cheques of N393 million, N250 million, N240 million with instructions that the money be paid into the second defendant’s account in Zenith bank. The cheques for the money were marked as exhibits 11civ, 11 cv, 11cvi.
Shuaibu also to the court that he got from the bank’s record that the monies that were Jointrust Limited’s account which were N300 million, N400 million and 800 million were from the Ministry of External Affairs’s Research Library account and Research Capital Accounts.
