The Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted seven sets of bank statements linked to the Kogi State Government House Administration during the tenure of former Governor Yahaya Bello as evidence.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Bello and six others for allegedly misappropriating N80.2 billion.
At the resumed hearing, Mshelia Bata, a compliance officer from Zenith Bank and the fourth prosecution witness, presented the computer-generated statements, accompanied by certificates of identification in line with legal procedures. She was led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN).
Despite objections from Bello’s lawyer, J.B. Daudu (SAN), who stated he would reserve his arguments for a later stage, the court admitted the documents as exhibits.
During testimony, Bata explained banking policies prior to Nigeria’s cashless policy, noting that the maximum allowed for government cash withdrawals was N10 million per transaction. She cited an example from May 23, 2016, showing nine transactions under the name Abdulsalami Hudu, each withdrawing N10 million, which was within the limit.
Bata also confirmed a series of credit inflows on January 30, 2018, totaling approximately N1.092 billion. When questioned about overall withdrawals, she noted a total of N1.968 billion over multiple transactions, adding that she had compiled inflows and outflows between May 2 and May 19, 2018.
Tensions rose as the prosecution and defence sparred over the nature of the trial. While Pinheiro insisted the case was political because Bello is a former governor and one-time presidential aspirant, Daudu refuted the claim, maintaining the matter was strictly about money laundering allegations.
Following the close of Bata’s examination, Daudu requested time to review the documents before proceeding with cross-examination. Consequently, the case was adjourned to Friday.
Earlier, the court also ruled on an issue involving the EFCC’s third witness, Nicholas Ojehomon, an internal auditor at the American International School, Abuja. Justice Emeka Nwite rejected a bid by EFCC counsel, Olukayode Enitan (SAN), to cross-examine the witness after defence counsel Daudu had completed his cross-examination.
Enitan claimed he was not re-examining but cross-examining Ojehomon based on Exhibit 19, a judgment from the FCT High Court. However, the judge ruled that unless the prosecution declared the witness hostile, it could not conduct cross-examination. He permitted re-examination only within specified sections of the exhibit.
Ojehomon had testified that there was no record of funds transferred from Kogi State to the school and that no court had declared such funds as proceeds of crime. Following a brief re-examination, the witness was discharged.
The trial continues Friday with cross-examination of the bank official by the defence.