Bank witness exposes suspicious payments in Agunloye trial

In a development surrounding the alleged $6 billion Mambila Power Project fraud, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission witness has shed light on how former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, received multiple transfers totalling N5.2 million from an employee of Sunrise Power and Transmission Ltd, Jide Sotirin.

An EFCC statement on Thursday via X noted that the revelation came during Agunloye’s trial before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo, Abuja, where he faces seven-count charges bordering on official corruption and fraudulent award of the Mambila Power Project contract.

A compliance officer with Guaranty Trust Bank, Adebayo Ilori, took the stand as a prosecuting witness and narrated the intricate details of the financial transactions involving Agunloye and Sotirin.

According to Ilori’s testimony quoted by the EFCC, “Sometimes in October 2022, the bank received a letter from EFCC requesting for some information on the account opening package, statement of account, and certificate of identification on two customers, Olu Agunloye and Jide Sotirin.”

Ilori further explained the process undertaken by the bank to comply with the EFCC’s request, stating, “Upon receiving the letter, Wale Agunbiade, head of the Unit, went ahead to generate the statement of account from the computer system of the bank.”

The witness confirmed the authenticity of the documents provided to the EFCC, stating, “Upon receiving the account opening package and statement of account, we compared the information generated because the statement of account was generated from the bank’s application by imputing the customer’s details on the computer system, and all the parameters requested, which was then printed out.”

Ilori’s testimony took a critical turn when he revealed the details of the financial transfers Sotirin made to Agunloye.

“The witness established that Sotirin on August 10, 2019, transferred the sum of N3,600,000.00 from his account to Agunloye. On October 22, 2019, he transferred N500,000.00 to Agunloye and equally did so on November 13, 2019, to the tune of N1,121,000.00,” the EFCC statement noted.

The witness further corroborated his claims by referring to the bank statements, stating, “On exhibit EFCC (1b), the name of the account holder is Agunloye Olu, and it is a Naira account. On 10 August 2019, there was a transfer credit of N3,600,000.00 from Sotirin Jide Abiodun in favour of Agunloye Olu. Also, on 22 October 2019, there was a credit transfer of N500,000.00 from Sotirin Jide Abiodun to Olu Agunloye, and on 13 Nov 2019, there was a credit transfer of N1,121,000 from Jide Sotirin Abiodun to Agunloye Olu.”

The EFCC furthered that the court proceedings were adjourned until June 11, 2024, for cross-examination.

The EFCC had on January 10 arraigned Agunloye, who served as power and steel minister between 1999 and 2003 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on seven counts bordering on “fraudulent award of contract and official corruption.”

In one of the charges, the EFCC alleged that on May 22, 2003, Agunloye awarded a contract, titled “Construction of 3,960mw Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited “without any budgetary provision, approval and cash backing.”

In another count, Agunloye was alleged to have on August 10, 2019 “corruptly received the sum of N3.6m from Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and Leno Adesanya for having conveyed the ‘approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the construction of the 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station’ in favour of SPTCL.”