The fourth prosecution witness in the ongoing money laundering trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has reaffirmed that withdrawals made by the Kogi State Government did not breach any banking regulation.
Testifying before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, told the court under cross-examination that Bello’s name did not appear as a beneficiary in any of the transactions presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), drew the witness’ attention to several withdrawals by one Umar Comfort Olufunke, which were not mentioned in the prosecution’s submissions.
The EFCC had focused on withdrawals made by one Abdulsalam Hudu.
Bata said the withdrawals—made between December 2017 and April 2018 in tranches of N10 million—were payments to various hotels in Kogi State.
He also confirmed that withdrawals by another individual, Alhassan Omakoji, between November 2021 and December 2022, were within the limits approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The witness added that he was unaware of any law that dictates how a state government should spend its allocations, stressing that apart from the listed beneficiaries, he could not determine the purpose of the transactions.
Prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), thereafter closed his examination, and the witness was discharged.
At the previous sitting, Bata had confirmed that Bello was neither a signatory to nor a beneficiary of any of the accounts presented in evidence, noting that his name was absent in all 389 pages of Exhibit 22A.
The fifth prosecution witness, Jesutoni Akoni, a compliance officer with Ecobank Plc, was then called by EFCC counsel, Chukwudi Enebeli (SAN).
Akoni tendered a subpoenaed letter and a statement of account belonging to Moses Ailetu Companies, covering January 1 to 31, 2016.
On cross-examination, Akoni confirmed that none of the deposits—ranging between N3 million and N20 million—carried Bello’s name, and that the source of the funds could not be determined from the documents.
The sixth prosecution witness, Mohammed Bello Hassan, a relationship officer with Keystone Bank, also presented account statements of Dantata and Sawoe as exhibits, while the seventh witness, Olomotame Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, tendered 12 sets of customer documents requested by the EFCC.
However, defence counsel Daudu (SAN) objected to some of the attached documents, describing them as extraneous.
Following arguments, the prosecution team agreed to detach the irrelevant papers.
Justice Nwite adjourned further hearing in the case to Tuesday, November 11, 2025.