Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the alleged N110 billion fraud instituted against former governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello, and two others until November 12.
Mr Bello is charged alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu with a 16-count charge bordering on alleged property fraud to the tune of N110 billion.
At the resumed hearing, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called its fifth witness, Victoria Oluwafemi, a compliance officer with Polaris Bank.
The witness told the court that the total credit to the account in question came from different senders, adding that the transfers from the account were in multiples of ₦10 million.
She said the total credit in November 2021 was ₦450 million.
While being cross-examined by the counsel to the first defendant, Joseph Daudu (SAN), the witness admitted that she was not the accounts officer for the two accounts in the bank.
She also admitted that, because she was not the accounts officer, she did not know how the transactions on these accounts were carried out.
Counsel to the second defendant, A.M Aliyu, while cross-examining the witness, asked her if the name of Mr Hudu was in the portion shown to her in Exhibit M. She responded that it wasn’t.
The sixth prosecution witness (PW6), Mshelia Arhyel, was then called for cross-examination.
Mr 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 held the discretion to cross-examine or not.
During the proceedings, the prosecution sought to tender certain documents through the subpoenaed witness.
The court, however, held that the matter before it was independent and that the defence counsel held the discretion to cross-examine or not.
The prosecution sought to tender certain documents through the subpoenaed witness.
Counsel to the first defendant 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 further indicated his intention to address the court more extensively on the points of objection at a later stage.
Counsel to the second defendant, Mr Aliyu, also objected, relying on the same statutory grounds.
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, 2025, examination before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Division 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 ₦10 million.
The EFCC counsel told the witness to examine the transactions of February 22, 23, and 25 and March 3, 2016, up to May 6, 2022.
He confirmed multiple transactions of N10 million each, admitting they were within the approval threshold, which put the total transactions as of January 31, 2018, at N707,267,000.
“Please confirm that, notwithstanding the multiple withdrawals made on the same day, they were all within the approved withdrawal threshold,” prosecution counsel said.
“Yes, my Lord,” the witness responded.
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 then adjourned until November 12 for the continuation of the examination of the sixth witness.
(NAN)
