The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday submitted additional bank documents in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, at the federal high court in Abuja.
Bello is being prosecuted alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving about N110.4 billion.
At the resumed proceedings before the presiding judge, Maryanne Anineh, the prosecution team, led by Kemi Pinheiro, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), called its sixth witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, for further cross-examination.
During cross-examination, Joseph Daudu, counsel to the first and second defendants, questioned the witness on exhibit S1, a statement of account earlier tendered by the prosecution.
Daudu asked Bata to explain his earlier testimony that the statement of account comprised eight columns, particularly the significance of the “description” column.
The witness told the court that the column contained transaction narrations.
He then drew attention to an entry dated January 20, 2016, which reads: “Cq 158 Abdulsalami Hudu for N10,000,000.”
Bata also highlighted another entry stating, “ZB chq 155 paid Halims Hotels and Tours, Lokoja, N2,454,400.”
When asked if he knew the purpose for which the N10 million paid to Hudu or the amount paid to Halims Hotels and Tours was used, the witness said he could not ascertain how the funds were spent or their intended purpose.
Daudu further referred the witness to exhibit X1 and asked him to identify it.
In response, Bata said it was the account-opening package of a company with account number 1014878995, domiciled at Zenith Bank’s Lokoja branch.
The defence counsel also queried the witness on the number of transactions recorded within certain periods.
While Daudu suggested that 21 transactions occurred between March 10 and March 12, 2016, the witness said the entries before him began from November 14, 2016.
When directed to entries dated December 6, 2016, Bata told the court that the first was a transfer from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service amounting to N74,378,483.20. He added that another entry on the same day showed a cheque payment of N10 million to Mohammed Jami’u Sallau.
Asked whether the statement reflected the purpose of the payment, the witness said the narration did not state the reason, noting that the same applied to another N10 million credit in favour of Sallau.
The witness was also cross-examined by Z.B. Abbas, counsel to the third defendant, Abdulsalami Hudu, who asked whether all withdrawals made by the third defendant were by cheque. Bata answered in the affirmative, adding that the cheques were duly signed by authorised signatories.
Abbas also confirmed through the witness that exhibit X1 was the statement of account of the government house account.
On exhibit X2, Bata said the third defendant was introduced to the bank as a civil servant and an accountant.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter to January 16 for the continuation of the trial.