By Desire Emmanuel
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, April 20, admitted nine exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, alongside Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.
The exhibits were presented before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in its ongoing trial of the former minister and some family members.
The EFCC is prosecuting them on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8.7 billion, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The exhibits, which are documentary in nature, were tendered through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, J. S. Okutepa, the witness told the court that, in the course of his official duties, he received correspondence from the EFCC requesting documents relating to several accounts linked to the defendants and associated entities.
“I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duty includes receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly,” he said.
Bata further disclosed that the bank complied with EFCC’s requests by providing both soft and hard copies of documents relating to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies such as Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.
“My lord, the documents are nine,” he stated, confirming his ability to identify them when presented in court.
Upon application by Okutepa, the court admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9, despite an initial objection by defence counsel, J. B. Daudu,
Continuing his testimony under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, the witness provided details of transactions contained in the exhibits.
He identified Exhibit D1 as containing account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including a naira account and a dollar account.
According to him, the statement of account for one of the accounts covered the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2023.
The witness confirmed that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, noting that “there were transfers within that period.”
He further revealed that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,21.55 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while total credits from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12.
On debits, he stated that N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.
Giving further breakdown of transactions, the witness told the court that on November 11, 2020, the account received N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited, and on June 24, 2022, it received N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
He added that on July 1 and July 7, 2022, the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on December 22, 2022, there was an inflow of N500 million linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
Continuing in that format, the witness identified so many transactions running into billions.
Following the testimony, the defence counsel, J.B Daudu, sought an adjournment to enable him study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.
“My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” Daudu said.
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter till May 13 for continuation of trial.
