Two prosecution witnesses gave some details of some bank transactions of a company linking a wife and son of former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami during the family members’ money laundering trial on Monday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is prosecuting the trio of Mr Malami, his wife Asabe Bashir, and his son Abdulaziz Malami at the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleged that the funds were part of the proceeds of a money laundering scheme involving N8.7 billion.
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The commission alleged in the charges filed against them last December that they carried out the money laundering schemes between 2015 and 2025, through multiple bank accounts, corporate entities and high value property acquisitions.
In the 16 counts of money laundering, the EFCC accused them of conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities involving the sum of N8.7 billion.
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Bulk of the transactions allegedly took place during Mr Malami’s time as the Attorney-General of the Federation during the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2015 and 2023.
Testifying as the second prosecution witness on Monday, Daniel Kwayil, a compliance officer with Union Bank, presented copies of the account opening package and statement of account of Meethaq Hotels Limited.
He gave the company’s account number as 0179011105.
Prosecution lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), tendered as exhibits the bank account documents along with a Union Bank’s forwarding letter dated 23 December 2025 along with a certificate of compliance.
Defence lawyer Joseph Daudu, also a SAN, said he had no objection for the time being but reserved the right to do so if it became necessary as the trial progressed.
Trial judge Joyce Abdulmalik then admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as Exhibit B series.
Mr Okutepa then asked the prosecution witness to refer to page 37 of the statement of account of Meethaq Hotels Limited.
Following the prosecution lawyer’s lead, the witness said on 5 February 2024, there was a payment of N14 million by instant transfer to Abubakar Malami on the order of Meethaq Hotels Limited.
On 4 March 2024, the witness said further, there was another transfer of N24 million in favour of Abubakar Malami from Meethaq Hotels Limited.
The witness added that on 3 February 2024, another N24 million was transferred to A.A. Malami and Co on the order of Meethaq Hotels Limited.
Mr Kwayil also told the court that on3 May 2024, as reflected on page 38, there was a transfer of N12.5 milliion in favour of A.A. Malami.
When asked who the signatory to the account of Meethaq Hotels Limited was, the witness replied:
“The sole signatory to Meethaq Hotels Limited is Asabe Rakiya Bashir.”
He identified the second defendant, Ms Bashir, in the dock and told the court that her identification card appeared on pages 11 and 12 of the account opening documents.
He also noted that the board resolution on page 10 made her the sole signatory to the account.
Mr Kwayil also said the statement of account of Meethaq Hotels Limited spanned pages 34 to 41, showing both inflows and outflows.
Inflows into Meethaq’s account
According to him, on 3 November 2022, the account received two deposits of N1,745,242.73 and N21,202,209.36.
He said on 8 November 2022, the account received N685,200 and N685,400.
The witness added that on 18 November 2022, the account received N1,047,019.55.
He further told the court that on 28 November 2022, the account received N10 million twice from YMB Energy Limited.
On 2 December 2022, the witness said the account received N4,565,320.58, and on 5 December 2022, it received N4,828,880.56.
Mr Kwayil said that on 20 December 2022, there was an inflow of N1,83,686.44 into the account.
He said on 10 January 2023, the account received N43,177,453.94, and another N4,650,781.50 on the same day.
He added that on 17 January 2023, the account received N915,540.84, while on 12 February 2023, it received N25,483,054.24, all transfers from Meethaq Hotels Limited.
The witness further stated that on 3 March 2025, there was an inflow of N11,166,235.10 from another account of Meethaq Hotels Limited.
He added that on 14 March 2023, the account received N118,814.64.
According to him, on 3 April 2023, another inflow of N13,388,808.38 was recorded from another account of Meethaq Limited, while on 14 April 2023, the account received N158,066.73.
Mr Kwayim, who earlier told the judge that he was from the Union Bank branch at Area 3, Abuja, described himself as a regulatory liaison officer who interacts with regulators on behalf of the bank’s Abuja branches.
According to him, the regulators include government agencies that supervise the banking industry in Nigeria.
He added that his duties included reviewing account openings, authorising closures, and conducting investigation that bothers with regulatory glitches and customer complaints.”
Mr Daniel told the court that in December 2025, the bank received a request from the EFCC “requesting us to provide an account opening package of Meethaq Hotels Limited in account 0179011105 and the statement of account and certificate of compliance and any other useful information that will aid EFCC investigation.”
The witness said the bank provided the requested information and related documents on 23 December 2025.
Cross-examination: Witness says purposes of payments not known
During cross examination by defence lawyer, Mr Daudu, the witness said he “joined the union bank on 4 August 2014 for almost 12 years and has been in the compliance department from 4 August 2014 to date.”
He agreed there is a difference between a compliance officer and a relationship officer but said he is not a relationship officer.
According to him, a relationship manager’s primary responsibility is to bring customers to the bank and process loans and other services.
He also said he met Mr Malami’s wife at the Maitama branch where the account was opened.
When asked to describe AA Malami and Co, the witness said it appeared as a beneficiary in the third-party transfer.
He said he believed the name referred to Mr Malami himself, not his son, because he does not know the son as a lawyer.
The witness added that he did not know whether the transfers reflected in Exhibits B Series were commercial transactions and did not know the purpose of the transactions.
Third prosecution witness testifies on loan transactions, others
After the testimony of the second witness, the prosecution called a third witness.
The witness, Olomotane Egoro, told the court he works as a compliance officer with Access Bank, located at Plot 792, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District, Abuja.
He said he works in the compliance department and responds to requests from law enforcement agencies.
According to him, “I send out responses to law enforcement agents like EFCC, SSS etc.”
Mr Egoro told the court that “Sometime in 2025 my team received a letter from the EFCC requesting for documents from Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Ltd, Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, that account opening certification, loan documents for the account opening package etc.”
He said the bank first sent the response by email and later forwarded hard copies of the documents.
The witness was shown letters dated 9 March and 5 February 2026 sent to the EFCC.
After confirming them and the attached documents, the prosecution sought to tender them in evidence.
Mr Daudu said the defence did not oppose the tendering but sought to confirm whether the witness’ name appeared in the witness statement.
Testifying from the documents, Mr Egoro said the account had a sole signatory, “Abdulaziz Malami Abubakar, whom he identified as Mr Malami’s son.
He said, “My lord the letter of offer for the N400 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.”
He added that the loan was disbursed on 9 October 2020 to Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Ltd and was fully repaid on 14 July 2022.
He said part of the loan included a N100 million disbursement to New Horism Limited on 10 November 2020.
Mr Egoro also said that on 9 October 2020, N400 million was disbursed to the account of Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Ltd.
He added that on the same date, the account recorded a N4 million debit as management fees, another debit of N300,000, and another transaction of over N1 million.
Referring to Exhibit C2, the witness also testified about Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, with account number 0828310158.
He said the account statement showed several inflows from page five.
According to him, deposits included N500,000 on 17 October 2019 by Abubakar Abdulaziz Malmai, and anotherN500,000 on 21 October by the same person.
He said there was also a deposit of N1,720,000 on 28 October, followed by N1,500,000 on 29 October by one Musa.
Other deposits included N1,200,000 on 30 October by Sirajo, N8 million on 4 November 2019, and N1 million on 5 November 2019.
He said the account also received N2 million in cash deposits on 14 November and N1 million on 27 November 2019 from Aliyu Kwando.
READ ALSO: Alleged Terrorism Financing: Prosecution stalls Malami, son’s trial again
According to him, further deposits included over N1 million on 5 January 2020, N10 million on 29 January 2020, and N5 million on 23 January 2020.
He added that another deposit was made by Afuwa Integrated Services Limited.
During cross examination, Mr Egoro said he described himself as a certified money laundering official but not a staff member of the EFCC.
He said he did not know the purpose of the inflows listed in the account statements and did not personally know the individuals who made the deposits.
After the cross-examination, the judge adjourned the case until 20 April for continuation of trial.
Backstory
The defendants, who were first arraigned on 30 December 2025, were re-arraigned before the current judge on 27 February.
The case, which subsequently passed through another judge, was later reassigned to the current judge, Ms Abdulmalik.
The EFCC had on 6 March called its first witness, David Ajoma, a compliance officer with Sterling Bank in Abuja.
The witness also told the court that Metropolitan Autotech provided the cash collateral that backed the loan facility granted to Rayham Hotel Limited.
He explained that both Metropolitan Autotech and Rayham Hotel Limited maintain separate accounts with Sterling Bank. He added that Hassan Aliyu is the signatory to the Metropolitan Autotech account.
Separate terrorism case
Mr Malami and his son are also facing a separate terrorism related case before the same court and judge, Abdulmalik.
In that case, the State Security Service (SSS) accused them of offences linked to terrorism financing and providing support to a proscribed group through financial transactions.
The defendants have denied the allegations, and are also facing trial.
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