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October 1, 2023
SaharaReporters further gathered that the non-prosecution plea bargain for Emefiele was premised upon the former governor’s willingness to return N50 billion which he had corruptly amassed.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has denied that the government entered into plea bargaining with former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele that would see him walk free after paying N50 billion from the funds he illegally stole as the apex bank boss.
SaharaReporters reported on Friday that the embattled former CBN governor, Emefiele, was set to be released from detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) after entering into plea bargaining with President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
SaharaReporters further gathered that the non-prosecution plea bargain for Emefiele was premised upon the former governor’s willingness to return N50 billion which he had corruptly amassed.
Emefiele and his associates were slated for arraignment over N6.9bn procurement fraud at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in August but the arraignment has been later stalled to date.
Sources had told SaharaReporters that Emefiele’s arraignment was stalled because Fagbemi had signed the non-prosecution plea bargain and it was waiting for Tinubu’s approval.
SaharaReporters in August reported that Emefiele faced 20 counts of conspiracy and procurement fraud levelled against him by the Nigerian government.
“The exclusive deal has been finalised awaiting Tinubu’s order. Tinubu is expected back in Nigeria this weekend after a medical visit to France. The DSS traced N72 billion to a series of accounts which Emefiele had planned to use for his Presidential run. Also, $70 million he hid with a couple who specialised in helping him to do round-tripping was discovered,” a top source revealed to SaharaReporters on Friday.
However, reacting in a statement on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, Modupe Ogundoro, denied the existence of any non-prosecution plea bargain involving Emefiele.
Ogundoro said though the legal team representing Godwin Emefiele had expressed its intention in court at the last hearing to initiate a plea bargain arrangement, no such agreement existed between the office of AGF and the former CBN governor.
The statement partly read: “The attention of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to reports alleging that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Federal Government of Nigeria, have agreed to a non-prosecution plea bargain arrangement.
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice hereby state clearly that these reports are completely false.
“It would be noted that the legal team representing Godwin Emefiele had expressed its intention in court at the last hearing to initiate a plea bargain arrangement. However, no such arrangement has been reached with Mr. Godwin Emefiele or his representatives.
“We wish to advise the media and members of the public to kindly disregard the said false report. The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will continue to take all actions in the interest of the Nigerian public.”