A prosecution witness has told a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama how former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is currently facing trial for fraud and corruption charges, allegedly awarded 45 contracts cumulatively worth billions of naira, to family members, including his wife, Margaret Emefiele, and associates.

Appearing before the court on Monday in Abuja, the witness, Agboro Michael – an ICPC investigator – identified April 1616 Investment Limited, owned by Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero, a CBN employee and Emefiele’s associate, as one of the two beneficiaries of the slew of contracts.

According to the witness, the other is Architekon Nigeria Limited, owned by Emefiele’s wife, Margaret Emefiele. One of Margaret’s brothers was also said to have benefitted from some of the contracts.

“My Lord, these companies were awarded about 45 contracts to supply Toyota Vehicles. We were worried as investigators as to how a particular company would get bids concurrently to supply vehicles. We did our investigation and discovered that the company was not even accredited by Toyota,” Michael said in his testimony as the seventh prosecution.

“In the companies, my Lord, one has Sa’adatu’s husband and siblings as directors, and the other one has Sa’adatu as the director of the company while she is still a civil servant.”

The witness told the court, that the inter-agency investigation involving the ICPC, EFCC, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the State Security Service (SSS) showed that the contracts were awarded by Emefiele to confer corrupt advantages on the beneficiaries.

Emefiele, who was the governor of the CBN for nearly a decade, faces corruption charges preferred against him after President Bola Tinubu removed him from office last June.

He is being prosecuted on amended 20 counts of conferment of corrupt advantages, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of $6.23 million.

During his re-arraignment in January, the former CBN governor denied the charges.

However, at the continuation of hearing in the case on Monday, Michael was led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).