The trial of the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, continued on Monday before the Federal High Court of Nigeria in Abuja, with bank officials detailing how millions of naira were allegedly transferred to the former minister through accounts linked to his family.
Malami, who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari from November 2015 to May 2023, is standing trial alongside his son, Abdulaziz Malami, and his wife, Asabe Rakiya Bashir.
The trio are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, concealment, and laundering of proceeds of unlawful activities.
According to the anti-graft agency, the defendants allegedly laundered public funds amounting to about ₦9 billion through a network of companies and bank accounts.
More Read
Hotel Account Transfers
During Monday’s proceedings, the second prosecution witness, Mr. Daniel Simon Kwayil, a bank compliance officer, told the court that the bank received a request from the EFCC in 2025 seeking documents relating to an account operated by Meethaq Hotels Limited.
Kwayil revealed that the hotel’s account listed Malami’s wife, Asabe Rakiya Bashir, as the sole signatory.
While reading from the statement of account presented in court, the witness disclosed several transfers from the hotel’s account to the former Attorney-General.
More Read
According to him, ₦14 million was transferred to Malami through instant transfer on February 5, 2024, while another ₦24 million was transferred to him on March 4, 2024.
He further testified that the same hotel account earlier transferred ₦24 million to Malami’s law firm, A. A. Malami & Co., on February 3, 2024.
The witness added that another ₦12.5 million was transferred to Malami on May 3, 2024.
Kwayil also detailed several inflows into the Meethaq Hotels account between 2022 and 2023, including multiple deposits running into millions of naira from various companies.
Alleged Network of Companies
The EFCC alleged that the defendants used several firms to conceal and move funds suspected to be proceeds of crime.
More Read
Among the companies mentioned in the charge are Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited and Rayhaan Hotels Limited.
The commission told the court that between July 2022 and June 2025, Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited was allegedly used to conceal more than ₦1.01 billion, while another ₦600 million was said to have been siphoned through the company between September 2020 and February 2021.
The prosecution further alleged that ₦600 million was retained as cash collateral in March 2021 to secure a ₦500 million loan obtained by Rayhaan Hotels Limited from a bank.
Evidence on Loan Transactions
The third prosecution witness, Mr. Olomotane Egoro, another bank compliance officer, also testified on financial transactions linked to Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Nigeria Limited.
Egoro told the court that the company obtained a ₦400 million loan, which was disbursed on October 9, 2020, into its bank account.
He stated that the account’s sole signatory was Malami’s son, Abdulaziz.
The witness said that shortly after the loan was disbursed, large transfers were made from the account to another company, New Horizon Limited, including ₦100 million and ₦10.57 million on the same day.
Additional transfers of ₦20 million in five tranches, totalling ₦100 million, were also made to the same company.
Egoro further told the court that the loan facility was fully repaid on July 14, 2022.
NGO Account Under Scrutiny
The witness also presented documents relating to the account of Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, which he said had Malami’s son and two other individuals as signatories.
According to him, the account received deposits from various individuals and companies between 2019 and 2023.
He told the court that the total lodgment into the account during the period was ₦722,986,603.75, while deposits into the Rayhaan Bustan account between March 2020 and January 2025 amounted to ₦1.85 billion.
Bail and Adjournment
Malami and the co-defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Although they were initially remanded in prison custody, the court later granted them bail on March 6 in the sum of ₦200 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who is presiding over the case, adjourned the matter until April 20 for continuation of hearing.
