Trial of the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, on money laundering charges continued before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, as a bank official revealed how funds were repeatedly wired to the defendant through the bank account of a hotel.
The witness, Mr. Daniel Simon Kwayil—a compliance officer with Union Bank—said the funds were transferred from the account of Meethaq Hotels Limited, which lists Malami’s wife, Hajia Asabe Rakiya Bashir, as its sole signatory.
Kwayil, who testified as the second prosecution witness (PW-2), identified Malami’s wife, who was in the dock, during the proceedings.
Malami who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, is facing trial alongside his son, Abdulaziz, and his wife, Asabe.
They are answering to a 16-count amended charge of conspiracy, the disguising of, concealing of, and laundering the proceeds of unlawful activities.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that the defendants laundered public funds totalling about N9billion.
The anti-graft agency told the court that in a bid to hide his proceeds of crime, the erstwhile AGF resorted to acquiring choice properties in various cities and states, including Abuja, Kebbi, and Kano.
It told the court that the defendants had between July 2022 and June 2025, used a firm- Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited- to conceal over N1.01bn in a Sterling Bank account.
They were further accused of using the same company to siphon about N600million between September 2020 and February 2021.
Likewise, EFCC told the court that the defendants had retained N600m in March 2021 as cash collateral for a N500m loan that the firm—Rayhaan Hotels Ltd—obtained from Sterling Bank, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime.
The defendants were said to have acted in breach of several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Though the trio were initially remanded in prison custody after they pleaded not guilty to the charges, the court, on March 6, granted them bail in the sum of N200 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
At the resumed proceedings on Monday, the PW-2, led in evidence by prosecution counsel Mr. J.S. Okutepa, SAN, told the court that the bank had, in 2025, received a letter from the EFCC requesting documents relating to account number 0179011105, operated by Meethaq Hotels Limited.
Referencing details from the hotel’s statement of account, the witness revealed that on February 5, 2024, there had been a payment of ₦14m by instant transfer to the former AGF, on the hotel’s order.
He told the court that on March 4, 2024, there was another transfer of N24m in favour of Malami from the hotel, adding that the same amount was earlier transferred to the 1st defendant’s firm, A.A. Malami and Co., on February 3, 2024 by the hotel.
According to the witness, on May 3, 2024, as reflected on page 38 of an exhibit before the court, there was a transfer of N12,500,000 in favour of Malami.
Asked to identity who the signatory to the account of the hotel was, the witness, said it was Malami’s wife, who is the 2nd defendant in the matter.
He told the court that Malami’s wife’s identification card appeared on pages 11 and 12 of the account opening documents, adding that the board resolution on page 10 of the exhibit made her the sole signatory to the account.
The witness said the statement of account of the hotel spanned pages 34 to 41 of the exhibit where both inflows and outflows were captured.
Continuing his evidence-in-chief, the witness revealed that on November 3, 2022, the account received two deposits of N1,745,242.73 and N21,202,209.36.
He said on November 8, 2022, the account received N685,200.00 and N685,400, as well as another N1,047,019.55 on November 18, 2022.
Likewise, the witness told the court that on November 28, 2022, the account received N10m twice from YMB Energy Limited.
He said on December 2, 2022, the account received N4,565,320.58, while on December 5, 2022, it received N4,828,880.56.
Kwayil also stated that on December 20, 2022, there was an inflow of N1,83,686.44 into the account.
It was equally his testimony that N43,177,453.94, and another N4,650,781.50 came into the account on January 10, 2023.
More so, the PW-2 told the court that on January 17, 2023, the account received N915,540.84, while on February 12, 2023, it received N25,483,054.24, all transfers from Meethaq Hotels Limited.
He further stated that on March 3, 2025, there was an inflow of N11,166,235.10; another N118,814.64 on March 14, 2023, as well as N13,388,808.38 on April 3, 2023, all from the hotel.
After the PW-2 was discharged from the box, the EFCC produced its third witness, Mr Olomotane Egoro, identified as a compliance officer with Access Bank.
In his own testimony, Egoro told the court that the bank also received a request from the EFCC for documents relating to Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Nigeria Limited with account number 1383843226, and Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative with account number 0828310158.
He said the documents included forwarding letters, certificates of identification, account opening documents, loan offer letter, memorandum of acceptance and statements of account.
According to him, the correspondences were dated February 6 and February 9, 2026.
When the prosecution sought to tender the documents, counsel to the defendants, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN, objected, insisting the statement of the witness was not made available to him beforehand to enable him to confirm if he was testifying on subpoena.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her ruling, stressed that since the bank was listed among those expected to testify, the defence reserved the right to cross-examine the witness and to also request for time to study his evidence, if necessary.
In his testimony, the PW-3 told the court that Malami’s son was the sole signatory to the bank account of Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Nigeria Limited, as reflected in the loan offer documents.
He added that the loan offer of N400m was contained in pages 4 to 4E, including the acceptance letter.
Egoro told the court that the loan was disbursed on October 9, 2020, into the account of Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited and was fully repaid on July 14, 2022.
He said on November 10, 2020, N100m was transferred from the account to New Horizon Limited, adding that on the same date, N10,575,360 was also transferred to the same company.
According to him, there were additional transfers of N20m in five tranches totalling N100m, to New Horizon Limited on the same day.
The witness added that on October 9, 2020, the account received N400m, being the principal disbursement under the loan facility.
He said on the same day, there was a debit of N4m as management fee and N300,000 as VAT.
The PW-3 stated that on November 10, 2020, there was a debit of N1,185,792.35 as main interest liquidation.
Testifying on Exhibit C2, relating to Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, the witness said the signatories to the account were Malami’s son, Usman Gotomo Abubakar and Faruku Abubakar.
He said the first inflow into the account occurred on October 17, 2019, when N500,000 was paid by Abdulaziz Malami.
He added that another N500,000 was paid by the same person on October 23, 2019, while on October 28, 2019, the account received N1,720,00.
He further told the court that on October 29, 2019, Musa Yamilu Galadanci paid N1,500,000, while on October 30, 2019, Chimugu Surajo paid N1,200,000.
The witness disclosed that on October 4, 2019, the account received N8m from Afuwa Services Limited, adding that on November 5, 2019, A.A. Funtua FX Limited paid N1m, while on November 6, 2019, there was a cash deposit of N2m by Faruku Madugu Gwandu.
He also stated that on November 27, 2019, N500 thousand was deposited by Aliyu Gwandu, while on November 28, 2019, Halliru Bala paid N2,500,000.
Egoro told the court that on January 29, 2020, Afuwa Integrated Services Limited paid N10m, while on January 23, 2020, the same company paid in N15m.
The witness stated that the total lodgment into the Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative account between October 17, 2019 and December 31, 2023 was N722,986,603.75.
He also told the court that the total lodgment into the Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Limited account between March 26, 2020 and January 31, 2025 was N1,857,978,100.
Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter until April 20 for continuation of hearing.