Court adjourns Yahaya Bello money laundering trial to May 6

The Federal High Court has adjourned the ongoing money laundering trial involving former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, to May 6 for continuation of proceedings.

The decision was delivered on Friday by Emeka Nwite, who granted the adjournment to allow the defense lawyer, Joseph Daudu, to continue cross-examination of a prosecution witness.

The witness, Abdullahi Jamilu, is the twelfth prosecution witness presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

During cross-examination, Jamilu confirmed that he made a single statement to the EFCC on May 10, 2022, which he relied on during his testimony to refresh his memory.

He admitted that some entities, including Wales Oil and Gas, Forza Oil and Gas and Aleshua Services, were not mentioned in that initial statement.

The witness also acknowledged that some names mentioned in another document filed in court were not included in his previous testimony and clarified that he was not the author of any of the documents presented.

At the start of the session, Judge Nwite rejected an objection raised by the defense against the readmission of the witness statement, describing the objection as unfounded.

Jamilu also told the court that he had previously testified in a related case before another judge of the same court, involving several defendants.

He confirmed that the financial transactions discussed in that earlier case were similar to those currently under investigation.

According to the witness, he relied on colleagues to process some foreign exchange transactions because his accounts could not handle them directly.

He explained that the companies mentioned in the proceedings belonged to members of his commercial network.

The court further learned that the funds had been transferred to the American International School Abuja (AISA) based on instructions allegedly received from one of the defendants.

Jamilu said he completed the transactions and forwarded the payment confirmations to the person who initiated them.

He, however, noted discrepancies in some documents submitted, stating that some pages were not part of the documents originally submitted.

Following the proceedings, Justice Nwite adjourned the case to May 6 and 7 for continuation of cross-examination of the witness.