Former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Daudu, has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the trial of former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, is politically motivated and not a genuine money laundering case. Daudu made the assertion on Wednesday while responding to submissions by Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), before Justice Emeka Nwite.
The submission came 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 to testify in the alleged money laundering trial. Under questioning, Egoro admitted that Bello never served as a local government chairman in Kogi State, despite the fact that the contracts under investigation were awarded by local government chairmen.
The witness told the court that the documents tendered by the prosecution as Exhibit 33 showed that the contracts in question were executed by various local government councils. He further confirmed that nowhere in the exhibit was the name of the former governor mentioned in relation to the transactions. According to him, the name “Yahaya Bello” did not appear “either as sender or recipient” in any of the local government dealings under scrutiny.
Egoro also admitted that the transactions reflected in Exhibit 33(11), particularly those between local governments and Keyless Nature Limited, appeared to be consistent with normal banking practices. When asked by Daudu whether he knew the purpose of the numerous payments made by the 21 local government areas into the Keyless account, the witness responded, “No, my lord.” He further said he could not ascertain from the records whether there was any contractual relationship between the councils and the company.
The Access Bank official also told the court that customers were entitled to spend their money as they wished unless there was evidence of fraud. When asked to confirm whether the bank was under any court order or had any fraud report relating to the transactions in Exhibit 33(11), he replied, “That is correct my lord.”
On payments made to Fayzade Business Enterprise, Egoro explained that an inflow from Okene Local Government Area on May 6, 2022, was for the supply of reading materials. He listed other payments from Ogorimagongo, Okehi, Omala and Yagba local government areas as being for education materials (₦4.4 million), medical items (₦7.5 million), sporting equipment (₦10.8 million) and medical consumables (₦12.2 million), among others. He added that other transactions were for agrochemicals, farm inputs and additional medical consumables.
When asked directly whether Bello was a local government chairman in Kogi State, the witness responded, “No, the defendant wasn’t a local government chairman.” However, EFCC counsel, Pinheiro, interjected lightly, saying: “My lord, there is this casual statement I learnt from my leader (Daudu); that this is a case of money laundering where payments can be made in disguise.”
In response, Daudu said: “Not all casual statements are made to go without reply my lord. Very soon, we will soon know that this is not a money laundering trial but a political trial.” Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the matter until February 5 for the continuation of the cross-examination of PW-7. (NAN)
