EFCC Tenders Fresh Bank Records in Yahaya Bello’s N110.4bn Money Laundering Trial

The trial of Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi State, continued on Thursday as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented additional bank documents before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Bello is being prosecuted alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge that includes allegations of criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4 billion.

Proceedings resumed before Justice Maryanne Anineh, with the prosecution team led by Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The EFCC called its sixth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, who returned to the stand for further cross-examination.

During questioning by Joseph Daudu, counsel to the first and second defendants, the witness was asked to provide clarification on exhibit S1, a bank statement earlier admitted in evidence.

Daudu sought explanation on Bata’s previous testimony that the document contained eight columns, specifically asking him to interpret the “description” column.

In response, the witness said the column showed details of transaction narrations.

He referred the court to a transaction entry of January 20, 2016, which reads: “Cq 158 Abdulsalami Hudu for N10,000,000.”

Another entry, he said, was also recorded as: “ZB chq 155 paid Halims Hotels and Tours, Lokoja, N2,454,400.”

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When asked whether he could explain what the payments were meant for, Bata told the court that he had no way of knowing how the money was eventually used or what purpose it served.

The defence counsel further directed the witness to another document, marked exhibit X1, and asked him to identify it.

Bata confirmed that the exhibit was the account-opening documentation for a company account numbered 1014878995, maintained at Zenith Bank’s Lokoja branch.

Daudu went on to question the witness about the volume of transactions carried out within certain periods.

Although the defence lawyer suggested that 21 transactions occurred between March 10 and March 12, 2016, Bata clarified that the entries he was reviewing commenced from November 14, 2016.

The witness was later asked to read out transactions dated December 6, 2016.

According to him, the first entry reflected a credit transfer from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service in the sum of N74,378,483.20. He added that another transaction on the same day showed a cheque payment of N10 million made to Mohammed Jami’u Sallau.

When asked if the bank statement revealed the reason for the payment, Bata stated that no purpose was indicated in the narration. He said the same lack of description applied to another N10 million transfer to Sallau.

Z.B. Abbas, lawyer to the third defendant, also cross-examined the witness. He asked whether all withdrawals carried out by Abdulsalami Hudu were done through cheques, and Bata answered in the affirmative, noting that the instruments were properly endorsed by authorised signatories.

Abbas further established from the witness that exhibit X1 represented the statement of account for the Government House account.

On another document marked exhibit X2, the witness informed the court that Hudu had been introduced to the bank as a civil servant and accountant.

After listening to the testimonies, Justice Anineh adjourned the matter to January 16 for continuation of the trial.