Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the continuation of a money laundering trial involving Ali Bello and his co-defendant, Daudu Sulaiman, to June 19. The charges were brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The adjournment came after the Prosecution Witness, Olom Egoro, an employee from the compliance unit of a commercial bank, finished presenting his testimony. He detailed that the EFCC had requested the bank statement of the Kogi State Government House for the period from 2018 to 2021, along with other documents such as the account opening mandate and a certificate of compliance concerning the printouts.
These documents were presented through the witness and accepted into evidence. However, the defense counsel objected to the documents’ admissibility, choosing to address these objections during their final statements.
Egoro’s testimony revealed that withdrawals from the account did not exceed N10 million at any time, but he did not specify who made the deposits, the purposes of these deposits, or the details of who made the withdrawals and for what reasons.
The counsel for the first defendant requested an adjournment due to health reasons to cross-examine the witness at a later date.
Justice Omotosho then scheduled the trial to resume on June 19th and 20th, 2024.
Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman are facing a 10-count charge related to money laundering, to which they have both pleaded not guilty.