Court admits bank records as EFCC witness testifies in Malami’s N8.7bn money laundering trial

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday admitted bank documents tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the ongoing N8.7 billion money laundering trial involving Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), his wife, Asabe Bashir, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.

The documents were admitted during the testimony of Munawwarah Salisu Anas, a compliance officer with Jaiz Bank Plc, who appeared as the fifth prosecution witness.

The EFCC is prosecuting the defendants on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to N8,713,923,759.49.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, J.S. Okutepa, counsel to the EFCC, informed the court that the matter was slated for continuation of trial and called Anas to testify.

The witness said her duties as a compliance officer include interfacing with law enforcement agencies, including the EFCC.

Anas told the court that Jaiz Bank received a request from the EFCC for account-related documents and subsequently responded through a letter dated February 4, 2026.

“Page one is the forwarding letter, page two is the certificate of identification, pages three to twenty-five are the account opening documents, while pages twenty-six to thirty are the statement of account of Alkausar Farm,” the witness said.

While reviewing the account statement before the court, Anas identified a series of inflows and outflows from the account of Alkausar Farm, one of the entities linked to the case.

She testified that the account received a cash deposit of N1 million from Hassan Aliyu on June 13, 2018. The witness said another cash deposit of N2.25 million from Aliyu Mohammed was received on June 20, 2018.

According to her, the account received four separate transfers of N10 million each from Kalamu Wahid Global Concept on December 7, 2018.

She added that the account also received an additional transfer of N8 million from the same company on the same day.

Anas further told the court that the account recorded a debit transfer of N45.5 million to Donaliv Global Nigeria Limited on December 18, 2018.

The witness said Al-Afiya Energy Limited transferred N26.25 million into the account on July 13, 2020. She said another N26.25 million was received from the same company on July 22, 2020.

According to Anas, the account subsequently recorded a transfer debit of N50 million to Sahad Stores Limited on July 24, 2020.

She added that a separate transfer debit of N1 million was made to Alfagai Jewelry Nigeria Limited on the same day.

The witness further testified that the account received a transfer credit of N2.03 million on August 12, 2020. She said a cheque withdrawal of N2.03 million was made by one Aliyu Mohammed Hassan on the same day.

Under cross-examination, Anas confirmed that she did not appear before the court pursuant to a subpoena.

Asked whether she knew the purpose of the inflows and outflows reflected in the account statement, the witness said the bank monitors transactions and reports suspicious activities to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

Demographics

“Yes, we know because we monitor and report to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, if the transactions are suspicious,” she said.

Following the conclusion of cross-examination and the absence of re-examination, the witness was discharged.

Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter until July 17 for continuation of trial.

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