A witness presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alleged that the 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.
Sotirin stated this before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo, Abuja in the case of the alleged $6 billion Mambila Power Project fraud filed against Agunloye, according to a statement on Thursday by the EFCC.
Agunloye faces seven-count charges bordering on corruption and fraudulent award of the project’s 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 said the court proceedings were adjourned until June 11, 2024, for cross-examination.
Agunloye was minister of power and steel between 1999 and 2003 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
