According to SaharaReporters, a prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday gave the account details of a former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, from when the account was opened in February 2015 up until July of same year.
The witness, Mr. Teslim Ajuwon who is also a staff of Zenith bank plc., said the opening balance of the account as at January 22, 2015 was zero naira, but between February 2, 2015 to March 2015, the sum of N840 million was credited into the account in three tranches.
However, as at July 31, 2015, the closing balance of the account was one hundred and eighty-nine thousand, four hundred and two naira, seventy-six kobo.
Mr. Ajuwon, reading through the bank statement of the former minister, revealed that Mr. Fani-Kayode made check withdrawal of N10 million numerous times.
This is against the bank policy that restricted withdrawal from individual accounts at N5 million.
However, during cross examination of the prosecution witness, the defense counsel attempted to disprove the statement of account as a legitimate document from holding bank.
Chief Ferdinand Orbih, counsel to Senator Nenadi Usman, a former Finance Minister, asked the witness “is there anything on the surface of the document that showed it emanated from Zenith bank?” to which the witness answered no.
He established that the statement was not signed by any official of the bank neither does it have the logo of the bank.
Meanwhile, a little drama ensued between the witness and Mr. Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers.
During the cross-examination, the witness blurted that he was being intimated by the lawyer having been grilled in respect of the document he was testifying on.
Mr. Fani-Kayode, the former minister of Finance, former National Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and ex-Chairman of Kagarko Local Government of Kaduna State, Mr. Yusuf Danjuma and a company, Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Limited, were arraigned on a 17-count charge of conspiring and laundering about N4.6billion to which they all pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues tomorrow, Thursday March 1, 2018