The Federal High Court in Abuja has officially accepted nine exhibits in the ongoing trial of Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney-General of the Federation, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and their son, Abdulaziz Malami. These individuals are facing a 16-count charge brought forward by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which alleges their involvement in a conspiracy to hide and retain approximately N8.7 billion suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities between 2015 and 2025.
During the court session on Monday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik approved the documents after they were presented by the prosecution. The evidence was tendered through the prosecution's fourth witness, Mashelia Bata, who is a compliance officer at Zenith Bank. Bata testified that his role at the Zenith Bank's Maitama branch involves handling correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding to them.
Bata explained to the court that the bank had received requests from the EFCC and consequently provided documentation related to the defendants and several corporate entities, including Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited. He confirmed that the documents presented were nine in number and stated he could identify them in the courtroom.
Despite an objection raised by the defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, who pointed out that "the dates are almost all in March," Justice Abdulmalik admitted the documents. The admitted exhibits, dated between July 19, 2024, and March 12, 2026, were marked as Exhibits D1 through D9, following a request from the prosecuting counsel, Jibril Okutepa.
The witness, Bata, proceeded to provide details about the transactions listed in the exhibits. He noted that some of these included account opening forms and statements for both naira and dollar accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co. He further stated that one of these accounts showed activity between 2015 and 2023, with transfers occurring within that period. The account statements covered a period from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2023.
According to Bata's testimony, the total credits received by one of the accounts amounted to N383,637,021.55 between 2016 and 2023. For the period between 2012 and 2015, the credits totalled N560,506,465.12. Regarding debits, he reported N384,322,120.85 recorded from 2016 to 2023, and N571,891,174.08 debited between 2012 and 2015.
Bata also highlighted specific financial inflows, such as N194,791,608.00 received from New Horizons Limited on November 11, 2020, and N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited on June 24, 2022. The court was informed that the account also received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited on July 1 and July 7, 2022, and an additional N500 million on December 22, 2022, which was linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited. Bata indicated that other transactions detailed in the exhibits involved sums running into billions of naira.
Following the completion of Bata's examination-in-chief, the defence team requested a postponement of the proceedings to enable them to thoroughly review the admitted documents and prepare for cross-examination. Consequently, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case until May 13 for the continuation of the trial.
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