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Court Grants Oronsaye N10m Bail; Witness Testifies That He Shared N100m With Personal Staff

An Abuja high court has granted bail to the former Head of Service, Steven Oronsaye, in the sum of N10m.

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Mr. Oronsaye was docked today at the Federal Capital Territory High Court of Maitama before Justice Olasunbo Goodluck for a two-count charge of fraud and conversion of N190m meant for a government trust fund.

The witness, who works in the operations department of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said that she was assigned to investigate a petition brought against Mr. Oronsaye by an anti-corruption organization.

Ms. Kakwagh submitted that in their petition, the concerned citizens alleged that the former Head of Service diverted funds of about N850 million through an Access Bank account. The funds had been allocated to the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force.

The witness said that it was on that premise that the Commission swung into action and wrote a letter to Access Bank to make available the committee's account.

Ms. Kakwagh revealed that the statement showed that the account was opened in 2012 at the request of Mr. Oronsaye, and he was a sole signatory to the account.

"Our team discovered that the account has been funded by three transfers from the Central Bank of Nigeria and an N45 million deposit by the defendant," she said.

According to the bank statement, N50 million was transferred in October 2012 and N90 million in May 2013.

The EFCC witness disclosed that the first deposit was withdrawn by a check issued to several people by the defendant while the second transfer was paid into a fixed deposit in Access Bank.

According to Ms. Kakwagh, “The defendant, as a sole signatory to the account, issued checks to different people from the account. We were unable to ascertain and reach the beneficiaries of the checks issued by Oronsaye because there were no addresses on the statement of accounts.”

The case had earlier stood down in the morning to allow the anti-graft agency to open its case against the defendant.                                           

The case has been adjourned to March 24 for further hearing.

Topics
Corruption Legal