The owner of Zigreat International Company Limited, Mr Stanley Enwereaku has claimed that former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, begged him to make false contract claims before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He stated this on Monday when he appeared before a Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Contracts set up by the Imo State government.
Enwereaku gave a graphic account of how the former governor not only prompted him to lie to the EFCC but also asked him to coach others on how to lie to the anti-graft agency.
Answering questions from the witness box, Enwereaku said, “When the EFCC invited my company to come to their office in Enugu, the former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, begged me to inform EFCC that Zigreat actually did all the contracts listed against its name.”
He said he told the lie to defend Okorocha, adding that:
“When I returned from Enugu, the governor thanked me for a job well done. He then directed me to coach other contractors on how to tell the EFCC lies”.
He said currently, owing to the lie that the officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) were after him for a N100 million that accrued from the huge transactions in the company’s account.
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“I have been contesting this tax and explaining to them (FIRS) that I only shared money to specific persons and companies and that I never executed any contract”, he said.
Enwereaku acknowledged that his action was fraudulent, but insisted that he did them because Okorocha directed him to do so.
Zigreat owner added, “I am now planning to go back to EFCC to correct all the lies I told them. My evidence before this commission contradicts what I told the EFCC. I am afraid of what EFCC will do to me, but I will still go and tell them the truth, in order to be free from this burden.”
On why he consented to the fraud, he said he was under real pressure from Okorocha.
He said he was “no longer in talking terms with Okorocha, since I started revealing what actually happened, to this commission”.
After the Zigreat owner finished giving his evidence, the Commission’s chairman, Justice Benjamin Iheka closed inquiry from him.
He, however, said that Enwereaku was not discharged of the subpoena on him, until after principal secretary to the former governor, Dr. Paschal Obi, had been recalled to react to the testimonies of this witness.
“Accordingly, inquiry from this witness is hereby adjourned to June 26, 2020, on a date the said principal secretary is expected to be recalled,” Justice Iheka added.
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