The Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted nine exhibits in the ongoing trial of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik admitted the documents on Monday during the resumed hearing of the case involving alleged fraud related offences.
The exhibits were tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC as part of its prosecution of the defendants on an amended 16 count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to 8,713,923,759.49 naira, contrary to the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.
The documents, which are largely financial records, were presented through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Jibrin Okutepa SAN, the witness told the court that he received requests from the EFCC for documents relating to accounts linked to the defendants and associated companies.
“I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duty includes receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly,” he said.
Bata stated that the bank complied by providing both electronic and physical copies of records connected to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies including Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.
“My lord, the documents are nine,” he added.
Despite an initial objection by defence counsel, Joseph Daudu SAN, the court admitted the documents dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026 as Exhibits D1 to D9.
Under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho SAN, the witness gave details of transactions contained in the exhibits.
He identified Exhibit D1 as including account opening documents and statements for accounts linked to Abubakar Malami and A A Malami and Company, covering both naira and dollar accounts.
According to him, one of the account statements spanned from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2023, with transactions recorded between 2015 and 2023.
He disclosed that total credits into one account amounted to 383,637,21.55 naira between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while credits between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015 stood at 560,506,465.12 naira.
On debits, he said 384,322,120.85 naira was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while 571,891,174.08 naira was debited between 2012 and 2015.
Providing further details, the witness stated that on November 11, 2020, the account received 194,791,608.00 naira from New Horizons Limited, and on June 24, 2022, it received 622,500,000.00 naira from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
He added that on July 1 and July 7, 2022, the account received 250 million naira each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on December 22, 2022, it recorded an inflow of 500 million naira linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.
The witness further identified several other transactions running into billions of naira.
Following the testimony, defence counsel Joseph Daudu SAN requested an adjournment to review the exhibits and prepare for cross examination.
“My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” he said.
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the case to May 13, 2026, for continuation of trial.
