Abuja — Counsel to former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN, on Wednesday told the Federal High Court in Abuja that his client is being subjected to a political trial rather than a genuine money laundering prosecution.
Daudu made the assertion before Justice Emeka Nwite while responding to remarks by Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), during proceedings in the ongoing trial.
The development occurred during the cross-examination of the EFCC’s seventh prosecution witness (PW-7), Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank Plc, who was subpoenaed by the anti-graft agency.
Under cross-examination, Egoro admitted that Yahaya Bello never served as a local government chairman in Kogi State, despite documents tendered by the prosecution showing transactions originating from local government accounts.
He further confirmed that the contracts under scrutiny were awarded by local government chairmen, as reflected in Exhibit 33, and that Bello’s name did not appear anywhere in the transaction records, either as sender or recipient.
The witness also told the court that the transactions between the local governments and Keyless Nature Limited, as contained in Exhibit 33(11), were consistent with normal banking transactions.
When asked whether he knew the purpose of several payments made into the company’s account on October 11, 2022, Egoro replied in the negative, adding that he could not confirm whether there was any contractual relationship between the local governments and the firm.
He further admitted that Access Bank had no fraud report on the transactions and was not acting under any court order at the time.
On payments made to Fayzade Business Enterprise, the witness explained that inflows from various local governments were for clearly stated purposes, including the supply of reading materials, medical items, sporting equipment, agrochemicals, farm inputs, and medical consumables, with amounts running into millions of naira.
Responding to questions from the defence, Egoro again confirmed that Yahaya Bello was not a local government chairman in any part of the state.
However, EFCC counsel, Pinheiro, interjected, noting that payments in money laundering cases are often made under the guise of legitimate transactions.
In response, Daudu insisted that the case lacked substance, telling the court:
“Very soon, it will be clear that this is not a money laundering trial but a political trial.”
Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the case until February 5 for the continuation of cross-examination of the prosecution witness.
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