A prosecution witness in the trial of Ali Bello, nephew of
Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and two others, who are standing trial
in a N10 billion money laundering case, on Thursday, January 11, 2023 told Justice James Omotsho of the Federal High
Court, Abuja, that huge funds were transferred in tranches from the accounts of
Kogi state government and that of the state’s government House Administration
account in suspicious transactions.
The defendants are being prosecuted on 10-count charges
bordering on misappropriation and money laundering by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The
witness, Bananda Edward, a Compliance
Officer with United Bank of Africa, UBA, led in evidence by prosecution
counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, presented a statement of account generated from
UBA in respect of transactions in the state government and state government’s
house administration accounts.
In the statement of accounts, there were cash withdrawals on
December 23, 2022 to tune of N20 million
which were withdrawn in tranches of N10million each from the Kogi State
Government account in favour of Kudu
Abdulsalam. Oyedepo moved to tender the transactions as an exhibit in
evidence, but was opposed by A.M Alilu, counsel to the first defendant and
Nureini Jimoh, ccounsel to the second defendant on the grounds that the documents did not satisfy the Bank Book 258
of the Evidence Act as well as Sections 89(h) and 91(e) of the same Evidence
Act 2011.
Responding, Oyedepo
prayed the court to discountenance the arguments of the defence
counsels, arguing that the documents are original and genuine in the form they
appear.
“The law says where a document is admissible, the attachment
goes with it. The documents are also relevant to the facts of the case. That is
why it is going through the turbulence we are seeing now. I submit that the
fundamental evidence given by the witness has complied with Section 90,
sub-section 1, Paragraph (e) of the Evidence Act 2011, and the witness has
confirmed on oath that the documents presented are made by customers of the
bank. The document is relevant to the trial, because it is a bank statement. He
even took a step further to authenticate the document through the certificate
of authentication”, he said.
Justice Omotosho ruled in favour of the prosecution and
admitted the documents in evidence.
The witness also examined Exhibit E, which contained
transactions on December 28, 2022, where he revealed that there were cheque
withdrawals of N10million each in four places in favour of one Alhassan
Onakaji.
“On January 3, 2023, there was an inflow of N100 million and
in January 4, 2023 there were withdrawals from the same account of N10 million
each in nine withdrawals. There were further cheque withdrawals of N10 million
each in favour of Abdulsalam Kudu.
“On January 11, 2023 there was an inflow of N100 million into
the account and on January 24, 2023, there was also an inflow of N100million
into the account. On February 22, 2023, there were inflows of N24, 928,195.26
and N50million. On February 6, 2023, there were inflows of N29,800,000;
N16,740,000; N35,440,000; N22,700,000 and N151,135,000.
“On February 6, 2023, there were also cash transfers in favor
of Hussein Yusuf to the sum of N500,000.00; N300,000 in favour of Salaudin
Abdulrazak; N500,000,00 in favour of Sule Ojo; N500,000,00 in favour of Shuab
Abdulrasheed; N300,000.00 in favour Abubakar Magaji, N500,000.00 in favour of Abdulkareem
Abdulraman; N1,300,000 in favour of Chrisenbirth Investment Ltd and
N1,000,000 twice in favour of Peter Oha.
Justice Omotoso, after listening to the submissions of the
witness, adjourned the matter till February 5 and 6 for continuation of hearing.
Ali and Yahaya Bello and two others are standing trial in a
N10 billion money laundering case. They
were arraigned on December 15, 2022 on 10-count charges bordering on
misappropriation and money laundering.
Source: EFCC
