The Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted nine exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Monday admitted the documents at the resumed trial of the former Chief Law Officer of the Federation on fraud related matters.
The exhibits were presented before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in its ongoing trial of the former Minister and some family members.
The EFCC is prosecuting the defendants on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8,713,923,759.49 contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022.
The exhibits, which are documentary in nature, were tendered through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, the witness told the court that, in the course of his official duties, he received correspondence from the EFCC requesting documents relating to several accounts linked to the defendants and associated 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 further disclosed that the bank complied with EFCC’s requests by providing both soft and hard copies of documents relating to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies such as 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 stated, confirming his ability to identify them when presented in court.
Upon application by Okutepa, the court admitted the documents, dated between 19 July, 2024 and 12 March, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9, despite an initial objection by defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, who noted that ‘the dates are almost all in March’.
Continuing his testimony under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, the witness provided details of transactions contained in the exhibits.
He identified Exhibit D1 as containing account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including a naira account and a dollar account.
According to him, the statement of account for one of the accounts covered the period from 1 January, 2012 to 31 December, 2023.
The witness confirmed that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, noting that ‘there were transfers within that period’.
He further revealed that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,21.55 between 1 January 2016 and 31 December, 2023, while total credits from 1 January, 2012 to 31 December 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12.
On debits, he stated that N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.
Giving further breakdown of transactions, the witness told the court that on 11 November, 2020, the account received N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited, and on 24 June, 2022, it received N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
He added that on 1 and 7 July 2022, the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on 22 December 2022, there was an inflow of N500 million linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
Continuing in that format, the witness identified so many transactions running into billions.
Following the testimony, the defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN sought an adjournment to enable him study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.
‘My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered’, Daudu said.
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently fixed 13 May 2026, for continuation of trial.
