A staff of Diamond Bank Plc, Ademola Oshodi, has revealed how a total of $120,000 was transferred to an account in the UK on the instructions of Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.
According to reports, the Diamond Bank staff said he transferred thousands of US dollars to a company named Silver Steps Incorporated in the United Kingdom on the directive of Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia.
Testifying in court on Monday, January 9, Oshodi recalled that on on May 10, 2013, he picked a cash of $120,000 from the judge’s chambers and helped her wire the money to the UK company in tranches of $10,000 over 12 days.
Explaining why he split the transaction, he said “the bank has a daily maximum deposit of $10,000,” adding that the bulk of the $120,000 was kept in the custody of Diamond Bank till May 30, 2013, when the last $10,000 was transfered.
“I filled the tellers for the transactions on behalf of Honourable Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia. I wrote the name of Honourable Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia as the payee on the tellers,” the banker said.
The banker added: “Apart from the naira and dollar accounts, there is a corporate account named Nigel & Colive Ltd. with number 0036103685. The account was opened in September 2013. The address of Nigel & Colive is No 18 Lai Deinde Street, Fajuyi Estate.
“We made physical visitation to the address at 18 Lai Deinde Street and at the location, we found out that it was still under construction but because Honourable Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia is our customer and we knew that the property belonged to her, we proceeded to open the account.”
Ofili-Ajumogobia and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Godwin Obla, are facing trial at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja for alleged bribery and unlawful enrichment.
