By Uche Onyeali
Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court yesterday adjourned hearing in the alleged money laundering case instituted against the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, to November 12, after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, called its sixth witness.
When the case was called for continuation of hearing, the prosecution first called its fifth witness, Victoria Oluwafemi, a compliance officer with Polaris Bank.
The witness told the court that the total credit in the account in question came from different senders, adding that transfers from the account were in multiples of N10 million.
She said the total credit in November, 2021 was N450 million.
While being cross-examined by counsel to the first defendant, Joseph Daudu (SAN), the witness admitted that she was not the account officer for the two accounts with her bank.
She admitted that because she was not the account officer or relationship manager, she did not know how the transactions on the accounts were carried out.
Counsel to the second defendant, AM Aliyu, while cross-examining the witness, said, “Look at the portion my learned brother showed you in Exhibit M, the name Abdulsalam Hudu did not feature there?
“That is correct. Hudu’s name did not feature.”
The sixth prosecution witness, PW6, Mshelia Arhyel, was then called for cross-examination.
Daudu told the court that he had not concluded the cross-examination of the same witness in another court on a similar subject matter.
The court, however, held that the matter before it was independent and that the defence counsel holds the discretion to cross-examine or not.
During the proceedings, the prosecution sought to tender certain documents through the subpoenaed witness.
Counsel to the first defendant, however, objected to the admissibility of the documents, arguing that they did not comply with the provisions of Sections 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act.
He indicated his intention to address the court more extensively on the points of objection at a later stage.
The prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) urged the court to discountenance the objections raised by the defence team and admit the documents in evidence.
The court admitted the document, a 218-page statement of account of Alusha Services signed by the witness, Mshelia Arhyel, and marked P1 en bloc.
The prosecution asked similar questions posed to the same witness at the June 26 examination before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court.
He reiterated that prior to 2023, there was no strict withdrawal limit as long as the amount written on the cheque did not exceed N10 million.
EFCC’s counsel told the witness to examine the transactions of February 22, 23 and 25, as well as March 3, 2016 up to May 6, 2022.
He confirmed multiple transactions of N10 million each, but admitted that they were within the approval threshold, putting the total transactions as at January 31, 2018 at N707,267,000.
On the account statement of Aleshua Solutions Services and transactions from May 6, 2022, the witness said the first entry was a transfer in favour of Aleshua Solutions Services by B.O Rosemary Chukwuma, in the sum of $2,500.
“The second is a transfer in favour of Yau for $5,000. The third is also a cash transfer of $5,000 to Yau,” he stated.
The witness also confirmed certain transactions in December 2016 from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service, totalling N202 million.
The judge indicated that the session must end at 3pm and adjourned the case to November 12 and 13 for continuation of examination of the sixth witness.
