The Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted nine exhibits in the ongoing trial of former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and their son, Abdulaziz Malami, over alleged money laundering.
The trio are facing a 16-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which accused them of conspiring to conceal and retain about N8.7 billion said to be proceeds of unlawful activities between 2015 and 2025.
At Monday’s hearing, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik admitted the documents after they were tendered by the prosecution through its fourth witness, Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank. While giving evidence, Bata told the court: “I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duties include receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly.”
He explained that the bank received requests from the EFCC and provided documents linked to the defendants and several companies, including 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 said, adding that he could identify them in court.
Justice Abdulmalik admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024, and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9 following an application by prosecuting counsel Jibril Okutepa. The admission came despite an objection from defence lawyer Joseph Daudu, who argued that “the dates are almost all in March.”
Bata proceeded to outline details of transactions contained in the exhibits, noting that one set included account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, covering both naira and dollar accounts. He told the court that one of the statements spanned from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2023, adding that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023 and that “there were transfers within that period.”
According to him, total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,021.55 between 2016 and 2023, while credits from 2012 to 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12. On debits, 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 also highlighted specific inflows, including N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited on November 11, 2020, and N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited on June 24, 2022.
He added that the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited on July 1 and July 7, 2022, as well as N500 million on December 22, 2022, linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited. Bata said several other transactions contained in the exhibits run into billions of naira.
Following the conclusion of his evidence-in-chief, defence counsel requested an adjournment to allow time to review the documents and prepare for cross-examination. Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the case until May 13 for continuation of the trial.