Mashelia Bata, a witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has narrated how N1,096,830,000 was withdrawn from the Kogi state government house administration account within four days.
Testifying as the fourth prosecution witness at the resumed
trial of Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi, on Thursday, Bata gave details
of some transactions made from the state government house administration
account between 2016 and 2023.
Bello is facing a 19-count charge of alleged money
laundering amounting to N80 billion.
Led in evidence by Kemi Pinheiro, prosecuting counsel, the
witness, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama Branch, confirmed that
certificates of identification were attached to the statements of accounts
provided by the bank in the seven sets of documents presented, as requested in
a subpoena.
The court admitted the statement of account of the Kogi
state government house administration and those of six others as exhibits.
The accounts include those belonging to Adamu Jagafa Ishaya,
Whales Oil and Gas, Jimeda Properties Nigeria Limited, and Alyeshua Solutions.
Bata explained that before the introduction of the cashless
policy, withdrawal limits were set at N500,000 for individuals and N10 million
for corporate entities.
He was asked to clarify a transaction dated May 23, 2016,
involving one Abdulsalami Hudu.
“It is a cash withdrawal of N10 million in accordance with
the then maximum threshold allowed for cheque withdrawal per transaction,” he
told the court.
Bata further said between January 30 and February 2, 2018,
multiple cash withdrawals totalling N1,096,830,000 were made from the Kogi
government house account.
He also read out inflows and outflows between May 2 and May
19, 2018, noting that almost every credit inflow was followed by an immediate
debit via cheque.
Pinheiro also tendered account opening documents and the
bank statements from 2016 to 2023.
COURT DECLINES EFCC’S
PLEA TO CROSS-EXAMINE OWN WITNESS
Earlier, Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, rejected a request by
the EFCC to cross-examine one of its own witnesses, Nicholas Ojehomon.
Ojehomon, an internal auditor at the American International
School, Abuja (AISA), had testified during the previous hearing that the school
did not receive any wire transfers from the Kogi state government or its local
councils for the tuition of Bello’s children.
The EFCC sought to cross-examine him, but the judge ruled
that such an approach lacked legal backing.
“I must agree with the learned counsel to the defendant that
the EFCC can only cross-examine its own witness after it has declared such
witness a hostile witness,” the judge said.
“The argument of the learned counsel to the prosecution is
misconceived.
“This honourable court is not shutting the prosecution from
re-examining the witness but must restrict itself to pages 1, 14 and 15 of
Exhibit 19, where issues were addressed by the defence.
“The prosecution is not allowed to re-examine the witness
outside the pages prescribed.”
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