Alleged N10bn fraud: EFCC witness fails to tell court if Yahaya Bello’s cousin made withdrawals

A prosecution witness in the trial of Ali Bello (reported to be the cousin of Kogi State’s former governor, Yahaya Bello) and one other, Edward Bananda, has stated that he is unable to recall if the defendants made withdrawals from the state’s account.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, is prosecuting Bell and Dauda before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a 10-count accusation of misappropriation and money laundering.

Bananda, the second prosecution witness, was cross-examined by lawyers for the defendants, A. M Aliyu (SAN) and Nureini Jimoh (SAN), when the trial resumed on Monday.

While being questioned by Jimoh (who represented Suleiman), he was given three statements of accounts belonging to the state government and asked to recall if the defendants made withdrawals.

Bananda, who had previously stated that the majority of the withdrawals were made by Hudu Abdusalam (a cashier at the Kogi State House), informed the court that he was unable to recollect if the defendants made withdrawals from the accounts.

When asked if he could identify Hudu Abdusalam among the two defendants, the witness stated that he could not.

The witness, who was shown certain pages of the account statements by Jimoh, indicated that the majority of the inflows were security payments belonging to the Kogi State government.

He stated that none of the withdrawals in the account statements surpassed the CBN’s cash withdrawal restriction of N10 million.

The witness read from one of the account statements and noticed that on May 24, 2019, there was an inflow of N50 million; N100 million on May 27, 2019; N50 million on May 31, 2019; and N50 million on July 3.

The witness, who claimed that all of the inflows were security payments, also stated that they were withdrawn in N10 million tranches.

When Jimoh mentioned to the witness that the monies were for Kogi State’s security, Bananda stated he didn’t know.

Under cross-examination by Aliyu (who represented Bello), the witness stated that one of the accounts belonged to the Kogi State Government House Administration.

Bananda stated that the funds in the account belong to the Kogi State Government and that there are names and signatories on the account.

At the end of the cross examination, the prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), stated that he intended to call another witness.

The trial judge, Justice James Omotosho, delayed the trial to February 6 for further proceedings.