EFCC WITNESS RETRACTS CLAIM THAT FRANCIS ATUCHE PAID N45 MILLION TITHE TO CHURCHES

A prosecution witness, Mr. Bolaji Ogunsola, on Monday retracted his claim that a former Managing Director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche, had ordered the payment of N45 million as tithe to two churches in Delta State.Click on read more below....


The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Atuche is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), before Justice Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.
He was charged to court alongside his wife, Elizabeth, and a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu, for alleged stealing.
The commission alleged that they stole over N25.7 billion belonging to Bank PHB (now Key Stone Bank) between Nov. 2007 and April 2008.
Ogunsola, a former managing director of Mortgages PHB Ltd., a subsidiary of Bank PHB, had on Sept. 26 testified that Atuche ordered the payment of the money to the churches.
Following the testimony, he had alleged that his life was being threatened and had refused to appear before the court for his cross-examination, during two consecutive proceedings.
However, on Monday, under cross-examination by Atuche’s counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), the witness denied making the claim.
He said, “I didn’t say the first defendant (Atuche) gave money to the church. What I said was that an instruction was given by Claremont Ltd.
“There was no e-mail that was issued by the first defendant and I did not confirm from him whether it was his instruction.’’
Ogunsola said Atuche did not issue a cheque for money to be paid to Punaka Chambers, owned by Idigbe.
He explained that there was no sufficient information to confirm that Atuche was the actual owner of the disputed Claremont Ltd. account.
According to him, there was no mandate card or form C07 for the account, explaining that Atuche never gave any direct order for money transactions.
The witness said that they only acted on the presumption that the originator of the mandate took instructions from Atuche.
NAN reports that the matter was adjourned till December 4 for hearing of an application filed by Idigbe, seeking to recall a prosecution witness, Mrs. Elizabeth Ebi.