THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Thursday rested its case against former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Stephen Oronsaye, over money laundry charges involving over N2 billion pension fraud at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Mr Oronsaye along with his co-defendants will open their defence in the 49 charges preferred against them by the EFCC as the anti-graft agency closed its case with the testimony of its 21st prosecution witness.
Oronsaye and his co-defendants, the EFCC alleges, siphoned the money through a biometric enrolment contract purported to be for the reform of the civil service pension system. Mr Oronsanye is facing the charges along with Osarenkhoe Afe, the managing director, Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, a firm fingered by the anti-corruption agency in the scam.
The chairperson of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, indicted in the extensive pension reform scam, was jailed eight years by the Federal High Court in Abuja November last year. The judgement convicting and jailing Maina was tendered by the EFCC on Tuesday to strengthen its case against Oronsaye and his co-defendants.
EFCC’s 21st and last prosecution witness, Umar Abba Tilde, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank Plc, while testifying on two withdrawals of millions of naira from a pension account, on Thursday, said Mr Oronsaye was at no time a signatory to the federal pension accounts. He could also not ascertain whether Mr Oronsaye ever made an endorsement for withdrawal from the accounts.
On the outflows from one of the accounts, the witness told the court that two withdrawals: N161,472,000 million and N28,375,000 were transferred from a pension account to a company on July 6, and July 7, 2010 respectively.
Led in evidence, by EFCC’s lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, Tilde confirmed that mandates relating to the pension accounts were submitted by his bank to the EFCC in January 2020 based on request.
The witness further told the court that a letter of August 24, 2010, signed by Mr Oronsaye as then Head of Service of the Federation (HoS), instructed the bank that all e-payments must henceforth have final endorsement from the office.
However, under cross-examination by Mr Joe Agi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Oronsaye’s lead defence counsel, the witness said that the former HoS did not sign mandate for the two transfers made in 2010.
In addition, he informed the judge that Mr Oronsaye was not a signatory to the pension accounts adding that Shuiab Sani Teidi, Eunice Chide, Mohammed Kaltung Ahmed, Hassan Mohammed and Attah Danladi, were the signatories to the accounts. The witness also admitted that he was in Kano branch of the bank when the two transfers were made and would not know if Mr Oronsaye ever made any endorsement.
At the end of Mr Tilde’s testimony, the prosecuting counsel announced the closure of the EFCC’s case against the defendants. Twenty other prosecution witnesses had previously testified with several documents tendered by the anti-graft agency as exhibits.
Defence lawyer, Mr Agi, applied for an adjournment to open his client’s case. He indicated that he would be calling two witnesses.
Trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, fixed March 9 and 10, 2022 for Oronsaye to open his defence.
