Ex-head of service laundered government funds through own companies, says EFCC witness

A witness called by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Hamma-Adama Bello, has told the Federal High Court in Abuja how the former Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, laundered government funds using her companies during her time in office.

Bello, serving as a chief superintendent at the EFCC and leading the Special Investigation Team (SIT), testified as the 8th prosecution witness (PW8) before Justice James Omotosho in Abuja on Tuesday.

In March 2020, Oyo-Ita, along with her Special Assistant Ubong Effiok and several others, faced charges from the EFCC. The defendants, including their companies, Slopes International Ltd, Good Deal Investments Ltd, U&U Global Services Ltd, and Prince Mega Logistics Ltd, pleaded not guilty to the accusations.

While testifying under Farouk Abdullah’s guidance, PW8 mentioned that their team received information in 2019 from the office of the anti-graft agency’s chairman.

“The intelligence bordered on the activities of the first defendant (Oyo-Ita), her minister then in the Ministry of Special Duty and Inter-Governmental Affairs, where she was serving.

“The first defendant was the permanent secretary then, and other workers that include Mr. Ubong Effiok, the seventh defendant. The team developed intelligence and started the investigation. In the course of the investigation, we called for documents.

“The nature of the intelligence was such that the first and seventh defendants and a host of others were using their offices to get contracts for companies they incorporated or have interest in,” he said.

He stated that the first defendant was found to be the beneficial owner of two companies, namely Frontline Ace Global Services Limited and Asanaya Projects Ltd.

Bello informed the court that an investigation uncovered Oyo-Ita’s maintenance of two accounts in Zenith Bank Plc for Frontline Ace Global Services Limited. Additionally, it was revealed that the former Head of Service had frequently served as the chairman and CEO of Frontline Ace Global Services Ltd, issuing resolutions to open the mentioned accounts.