WITNESSES TELL COURT OF MULTIMILLION-NAIRA INFLOWS INTO MALAMI-LINKED HOTEL ACCOUNT

By ‘Sefiu Ajape

The trial of former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, continued on Monday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, with prosecution witnesses testifying about financial transactions linked to a hotel account and loan facilities.

When the matter was called, Malami and his wife were present in court, while their son joined them shortly before the court was about to stand the matter down for an hour.

The prosecution team was led by Jibrin Okutepa, alongside Ekele Iheanacho, while the defence was represented by Joseph Daudu, S. A. Aruwa and other counsel before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.

At the resumed hearing, Okutepa called the second prosecution witness, Simon Kwayim Daniel.

Daniel told the court that he works with Union Bank of Nigeria at its Area Garki branch in Abuja in the compliance department.

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He described himself as a regulatory liaison officer responsible for interfacing with regulators on behalf of the bank’s Abuja branches.

According to him, these regulators include government agencies that supervise the banking industry in Nigeria.

He added that his duties include reviewing account openings, authorising account closures and conducting investigations relating to regulatory matters and customer complaints.

Daniel told the court that in December 2025, the bank received a request from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

He said the letter was “requesting us to provide an account opening package of Meethaq Hotels Limited in account 0179011105 and the statement of account, certificate of compliance, and any other useful information that will aid EFCC investigation.”

The witness said the bank supplied the requested documents on December 23, 2025.

After Okutepa presented the documents to him, including a letter he had signed, the prosecution sought to tender them as evidence.

The defence did not object but said it would raise issues “if there is any at the final address.”

Justice Abdulmalik subsequently admitted the documents from Union Bank as Exhibits B Series.

Continuing his testimony, Daniel said the statement of account revealed several transfers from the account of Meethaq Hotels Ltd.

According to him, transfers of ₦14m and ₦24m were made on February 5 and March 4, 2024, respectively, from the company’s account in favour of Malami.

He added, “On 3rd of April 2024, there was another transfer of 24 million in favour of AA Malami and Co.”

Daniel further told the court that another transfer of ₦12.5m was made on May 3, 2024, from the same account to AA Malami and Co.

He also testified that the sole signatory to the account of Meethaq Hotels Ltd is Asabe Bashir, whom he identified as Malami’s wife.

When asked if he knew her, the witness pointed to Malami’s wife in court and described her as “the woman seated in the dock as the account signatory.”

He further confirmed from the documents that “Her ID CARD is on pages 11 and 12 of Exhibits B Series. And on page 10 is the resolution of the board of the account, which introduced her as the sole signatory to the account.”

Daniel also told the court that “the statement of account of Meethaq Hotels Ltd is from page 34 to 41” and detailed both inflows and outflows from the account.

He identified several deposits into the account, including ₦1,277,500 from one Abubakar on November 3, 2022, as well as ₦21,242,209 and ₦685,200 deposited on November 8, 2022.

The witness said another transfer of ₦1,047,019.55 was received on November 18, 2022, while the account received ₦10m from YMB Energy Limited on November 28, 2022.

He further stated that the account received ₦4,565,326.58 from another Meethaq Hotels Ltd account on December 2, 2022, followed by ₦4,828,660.18 on December 5 and ₦1,083,686.44 on December 20, 2022.

According to him, deposits of ₦43,177,458.94 and ₦4,650,761.50 were recorded on January 10, 2023.

Other deposits included ₦915,540.84 on January 17, 2023, and ₦2,548,305.24 on February 3, 2023.

He added, “On 3 March 2023, there was also an inflow of 11,166,235.10 from another account of the hotel.”

Daniel further testified that the account received ₦1,118,814.64 on March 14, 2023, while more than ₦13m and ₦1m were credited on April 3 and April 14, 2023, respectively.

During cross-examination, defence counsel Daudu asked the witness about his role at the bank.

Daniel told the court that he “joined the Union Bank on 4 August 2014 for almost 12 years and has been in the compliance department from August 4 2014, to date.”

He acknowledged that there is a difference between a compliance officer and a relationship officer but stated that he is not a relationship officer.

According to him, a relationship manager’s main responsibility is to bring customers to the bank and process loans and other services.

He added, “All account openings in the branch are subject to my review and approval.”

Daniel also said he met Malami’s wife at the bank’s Maitama branch where the account was opened.

Asked about AA Malami and Co, the witness said the name appeared as a beneficiary in a third-party transfer.

He said he believed the name referred to Malami himself and not his son, as he does not know the son to be a lawyer.

However, he said he did not know whether the transfers recorded in Exhibits B Series were commercial transactions or the purpose of the payments.

The prosecution then called a third witness, Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank Plc.

Egoro told the court that his responsibilities include responding to requests from law enforcement agencies.

According to him, “I send out responses to law enforcement agents like EFCC, SSS, etc.”

He said the bank received a letter from the EFCC requesting documents relating to Rayhaan Bustan, Agro Allied Ltd and Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative.

Egoro explained that the bank first responded by email before forwarding hard copies of the documents.

After confirming letters dated March 9 and February 5, 2026, the prosecution sought to tender them as evidence.

The defence did not oppose the request but asked whether the witness’s name appeared in the witness statement.

Okutepa responded that the list of witnesses attached to the charge included representatives from different banks.

He added that “Access Bank is not human,” explaining that the witness was appearing on behalf of the bank.

Although Justice Abdulmalik did not entirely agree with the prosecution’s argument, she ruled that the witness should testify while the defence would have the opportunity to cross-examine him.

The court subsequently admitted the letters as Exhibits C1 and C2.

Egoro told the court that the account of Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Ltd had a sole signatory identified as Abdulaziz Malami Abubakar, whom he described as Malami’s son.

He testified, “My lord, the letter of offer for the 400 million loan is on page 4 to page 4E, while the Memorandum of acceptance, which forms part of the letter of offer, can also be found on page 4.”

According to him, the ₦400m loan facility was disbursed on October 9, 2020, and fully repaid on July 14, 2022.

He said part of the loan included a ₦100m disbursement to New Horizon Limited on November 10, 2020.

The witness also stated that on the same date the account recorded a ₦4m debit as management fees, another debit of ₦300,000 and another transaction exceeding ₦1m.

Referring to Exhibit C2, Egoro testified about the account of Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, which showed several deposits.

According to him, the account received ₦500,000 on October 17, 2019, and another ₦500,000 on October 21 from Abdulaziz Malami Abubakar.

Other deposits included ₦1,720,000 on October 28, ₦1,500,000 on October 29, ₦1,200,000 on October 30 and ₦8m on November 4, 2019.

Further deposits included ₦1m on November 5, ₦2m on November 14 and ₦1m on November 27, 2019, from Aliyu Kwando.

The account also received over ₦1m on January 5, 2020, ₦10m on January 29, 2020 and ₦5m on January 23, 2020.

During cross-examination, Egoro told the court that he is a certified anti-money laundering professional but not a staff member of the EFCC.

He added that he does not know the purpose of the inflows listed in the account statements and does not personally know the individuals who made the deposits.

After the cross-examination, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case until April 20 for continuation of the trial.