A prosecution witness in the ongoing N10 billion money laundering trial against Ali Bello, the nephew of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, has presented bank statements detailing suspicious transactions from the state government accounts.
The defendants, Ali Bello, Yahaya Bello, and two others, are facing a 10-count charge of misappropriation and money laundering, brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They were arraigned on December 15, 2022.
EFCC in a statement said the witness, Bananda Edward, a compliance officer with the United Bank of Africa (UBA), was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, and testified before Justice James Omotsho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, January 11.
Edward presented a statement of account generated from UBA in respect of transactions in the state government and the state government’s house administration accounts.
In the statement of accounts, there were cash withdrawals on December 23, 2022, to the tune of N20 million, which were withdrawn in tranches of N10 million each from the Kogi State Government account in favour of Kudu Abdulsalam, according to the EFCC.
The prosecution counsel, 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, counsel to the second defendant because the documents did not satisfy Bank Book 258 of the Evidence Act as well as Sections 89(h) and 91(e) of the same Evidence Act 2011.
Responding, Oyedepo urged the court to disregard the defence counsel’s arguments, claiming that the documents are original and genuine in their current form.
“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,” Oyedepo argued.
However, Justice Omotosho, who presided over the case, 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 N10 million 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 N100 million into the account. On February 22, 2023, there were inflows of N24, 928,195.26 and N50 million. On February 6, 2023, there were inflows of N29,800,000, N16,740,000, N35,440,000, N22,700,000, and N151,135,000.”
EFCC said Edward also reported cash transfers from the account on February 6, 2023, to multiple individuals, including Hussein Yusuf, Salaudin Abdulrazak, Sule Ojo, Shuab Abdulrasheed, Abubakar Magaji, Abdulkareem Abdulraman, Chrisenbirth Investment Ltd., and Peter Oha.
“On February 6, 2023, there were also cash transfers in favour 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 Abdulrahman; N1,300,000 in favour of Chrisenbirth Investment Ltd; and N1,000,000 twice in favour of Peter Oha.
After considering the witness’s statements, Justice Omotoso adjourned the proceedings until February 5 and 6 for the continuation of the hearing.