EFCC Witness Restates No Law Breached In Fund Withdrawals By Kogi Govt

An EFCC witness, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, in the alleged money laundering trial of former Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi, on Monday, reaffirmed that fund withdrawals by the state government did not breach any banking law.

Bata stated this while being cross-examined by the ex-governor’s counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

He also admitted that Bello’s name did not appear as a beneficiary in the account statements presented as evidence in court.

Bata, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank, testified as the 4th prosecution witness (PW-4).

The prosecution had concentrated on withdrawals by Abdulsalam Hudu.

Under cross-examination, Daudu drew the witness’s attention to certain withdrawals by Umar Comfort Olufunke, which he said the prosecution did not mention while being led in evidence-in-chief.

The PW-4 told the court that Olufunke’s withdrawals, in multiples of N10 million, were between December 2017 and April 2018, with beneficiaries being various hotels in Kogi.

The witness also confirmed withdrawals by Alhassan Omakoji between November 2021 and December 2022, which, he admitted, did not exceed N10m per withdrawal.

He said the withdrawals were in line with the limits set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He equally admitted that he was not aware of any law that regulates how the Kogi Government spends its money or allocation.

“Confirm as a compliant officer that when multiples of cheques of N10 million are presented, the customers are merely adhering to the withdrawal limits set by the CBN?” Daudu asked.

“Yes, my lord, the N10 million on the cheque is the maximum allowed threshold on cash withdrawal set by CBN,” he said.

When asked if Bello’s name appeared as beneficiary on Exhibit 22, which he (Daudu) and the lawyer for the prosecution, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, had taken him through, Bata said, “No, my lord, the name Yahaya Bello does not appear as beneficiary.”

When asked if there is any law that regulates how the state government spends its money, the witness said, “I am not aware of any law that regulates how Kogi State Government spends its money or allocation in its account.”

He said apart from the beneficiaries, like the hotels mentioned in the account statements, there was no way he could know what the state’s transactions were meant for.

Justice Nwite then discharged the witness after Pinheiro informed him that there was no re-examination.

The witness had, at the last hearing, confirmed that the former governor was neither a signatory to nor connected with any of the accounts presented as evidence.

He admitted that, going through Exhibit 22A, from pages 24 to 413, Bello was not listed on any of the documents as a beneficiary of any transaction.

The anti-graft agency also called its 5th prosecution witness (PW-5), Jesutoni Akoni, a compliance officer with Ecobank Plc, who was led in evidence by another prosecution counsel, Chukwudi Enebeli, SAN.

The witness tendered a summons letter written to Ecobank, which was admitted in evidence.

The EFCC lawyer also sought to tender a statement of account of Moses Ailetu’s companies with a certificate of identification, from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, 2016.

Daudu did not oppose it, and it was admitted as an exhibit.

Enebeli told the witness to identify the different columns in the statement, which he did.

He was told to confirm cash deposits by the company, which were between N3m and N20m, and totalled N57m.

Akoni, while being cross-examined by Daudu, equally confirmed that former Gov. Bello was not a beneficiary of the said deposits.

“Confirm that any of the deposits you identified carries the name of Yahaya Bello,” Daudu asked.

“None of them carries the name Yahaya Bello,” she said.

Akoni also admitted that it was not possible to discern the source of funds from the face of the documents.

The prosecution, thereafter, introduced its PW-6, Mohammed Hassan, who was also on subpoena from Keystone Bank.

Hassan, a relationship officer with the bank, was asked to produce the statements of accounts of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company.

The documents were tendered as exhibits, along with the certificate of identification, after the defence lawyer did not oppose.

After the PW-6 was cross-examined, the EFCC called its PW-7, Olomotame Egoro, a compliance officer on subpoena from Access Bank.

He was led in evidence by Pinheiro.

He confirmed to the court that he had 12 sets of documents that had been requested.

“We supplied sufficient customer details that were extracted from the account opening packages at the time the customer opened the account,” he said.

The defence counsel did not object to the admission of the account statements properly, but opposed some other documents attached, which he regarded as irrelevant to what the prosecution requested.

“I am not going to object to the account proper, but I will object to all 12 purported extractions from the account opening documents attached.

“But I will not object to the statements of account, which were subpoenaed,” Daudu stated.

The senior lawyer prayed the court to direct the prosecution to remove “all the extraneous documents attached”, and the prosecution team detached those documents regarded as irrelevant.

Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the matter until Nov. 11 for continuation of the trial.