Oronsaye appropriated govt’s N190m in a secret account, witness tells court

The trial of a former Head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye continued on Wednesday with a second prosecution witness, Olubunmi Ojoko telling the court how Oronsaye converted to personal use, about N190m which he had kept in a secret account.

Ojoko, a staff of Access Bank Plc told the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja that Oronsaye, opened the account in his capacity as the then Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force, but without the approval of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The witness who said she was the bank’s officer in charge of the account, alleged, that the account was also unknown to other members of the committee.

The EFCC had on March 15, 2016 arraigned Oronsaye on two counts of breach of trust which he allegedly committed between 2013 and 2014 by defrauding the Federal Government of N190m using his position as the then Chairman of the Presidential Committee on FATF.

He is accused of converting the  money to his  personal use through the investment of the fund in Access Bank Plc’s Banker’s Acceptance for a tenor of 90 days at 9 and 12 per cents interest rates “in violation of the extant financial regulations”.

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A first prosecution witness, Ngunnan Kakwagh, an EFCC investigator, while being cross-examined by the defence team led by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN) had alleged  that the ex-Head of Service unilaterally operated the Access Bank account in the name of the PCFATF and received a total of N240m from the CBN through the account.

She had said Oronsaye also made “five structured payments” of N9m each, making a total of N45m, into the account in one day in September 2013.

She said out of the total N285m, Oronsaye invested N190m in fixed deposit and converted it along with the accrued interest into personal use.

Ojoko also told the court, that as when the account was closed, Oronsaye had withdrawn about N150m from the account which was partly the accrued interests on the investments, through cheques which he allegedly issued in favour of himself and various beneficiaries.

The account opening package, bank statements, mandate documents raised by Oronsaye and other documents relating to the account were admitted as exhibits.

The judge adjourned till Thursday for cross-examination of the witness.

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