Court admits nine exhibits in Malami’s money laundering trial

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, admitted nine documentary exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, in an ongoing alleged money laundering trial.

The trial judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, admitted the documents following their tendering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission through its fourth prosecution witness.

The anti-graft agency is prosecuting the defendants on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to N8,713,923,759.49.

The prosecution alleged that the offences contravene provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The exhibits, which are largely banking documents, were tendered through Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.

While being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, J. S. Okutepa, the witness told the court that he received a request from the EFCC in the course of his official duties, seeking documents linked to accounts associated with the defendants and some corporate 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 told the court that the bank complied with the request by providing both electronic and hard copies of documents relating to accounts linked to the defendants and companies, including Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.

He confirmed that the documents, numbering nine, were those supplied by the bank in response to the EFCC’s request and that he could identify them when presented in court.

Upon the application of the prosecution, the court admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9.

Defence counsel, J. B. Daudu, had raised an initial objection, noting that most of the documents were dated in March, but the court overruled the objection and admitted them in evidence.

Under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanach, the witness gave details of transactions contained in the exhibits.

He identified Exhibit D1 as comprising account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including both naira and dollar accounts.

According to the witness, one of the account statements covered transactions between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2023.

He stated that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, adding that there were several transfers within the period under review.

Bata told the court that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,021.55 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while credits from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2015, amounted to N560,506,465.12.

On the debit side, he said N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.

The witness further highlighted specific inflows into the accounts, stating that on November 11, 2020, the account received N194,791,608 from New Horizons Limited.

He added that on June 24, 2022, a sum of N622.5m was credited to the account from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

According to him, the account also received N250m each on July 1 and July 7, 2022, from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while another inflow of N500m was recorded on December 22, 2022, linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

The witness told the court that several other transactions running into billions of naira were reflected in the documents tendered.

Following the testimony, defence counsel sought an adjournment to enable him to study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.

“My Lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” Daudu said.

Justice Abdulmalik granted the request and adjourned the matter till May 13, 2026, for continuation of the trial.