The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday presented evidence that the former governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, used personal accounts to divert funds from the coffers of the state.
The Ogun state High Court sitting in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Monday listened to the testimony of the first prosecution witness, Babatunde Adeluola, a business development manager with Skye bank.
The witness told the court that he manages several accounts for the bank, one of which is opened in the name of Blue Chapel Company, with the sole signatory being former governor Gbenga Daniel.
A copy of the company’s statement of account was tendered by the anti-graft agency and admitted as exhibit by the court.
The former governor is standing trial for a 38 count charge of financial misappropriation while serving his two term as the state’s governor.
The witness reeled out a list of transactions on the accounts which was operated by cheques and cash deposits made in millions.
Under cross examination however, the witness admitted that he joined the bank in 2007 and had no knowledge of the deposits and proceeds of account which had been made between 2004 when the account was opened & 2006, the periods which the statement covered.
The witness also admitted that he could not confirm the accuracy of the figures posted in to the account.
After looking through the documents, he told the court that there was no cash or cheque deposit made by the former governor into the account but admitted that the deposits could have been made by the companies’ clients.
A controversy however ensued when the defence team sought to tender in evidence a copy of the same statement of account extracted from the proof of evidence before the court which showed parallels in the figures reeled out by the witness.
The statement of account was certified by the witness to be genuine.
This controversy led the presiding judge Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje to adjourn till the 5th of June when he will rule on the admissibility of the document in question.