Alleged N4bn fraud: EFCC opens case against ex-Gov Obiano, invites 2 witnesses

Two witnesses testified when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) opened its money laundering case against former Governor of Anambra, Willie Obiano, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday.

The EFCC arraigned the ex-governor on a nine-count charge of fraud.

The commission alleged that Obiano misappropriated over N4 billion from the state’s treasury during his time in office from March 2014 to March 2022.

A bank staff, Mr. Tochukwu Aloysius Nnadi, and an Onitsha-based businesswoman, Mrs. Chinwe Patricia Egbunam, were led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), at the proceeding.

Nnadi told the court that he was a bank manager at Awka, the Anambra State capital.

He said: “My lord, as part of our responsibilities, we manage customers’ accounts and interface with various security and anti-graft agencies in terms of inquiry on a customer’s account.

“We usually comply by providing the requested information.

“I know the defendant in this matter. He is the immediate past governor of Anambra State.

“In April 2022, I was informed by our compliance unit that I was needed at EFCC in respect of activities of the past administration of Anambra State.

“I went there with two of my colleagues. The EFCC told me that my invitation was in respect of an ongoing investigation.

“I was told that it was because I was the manager of the branch that handled most of the financial activities of the then state government.

“The state government maintains various accounts with our bank and one of such accounts was for security votes.”

He, however, said there was nothing special about the security votes account.

“It was like every other account that we managed for the state government.

“The account was mostly funded by the office of the Accountant General of the state and bulk of the funds came from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.

“Payments into the account were made every week and all transactions out of the account were always based on the advice of the account operators.

“The payments we made out of the account were to various entities and corporate organisations.

“We supplied documents containing names of all the beneficiaries to the EFCC,” the witness added.

He, however, declined a request by the prosecution counsel to mention the beneficiaries in the open court.

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