The seventh witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olomotane Egoro, in the ongoing alleged money laundering trial of the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has maintained that the name of the former governor did not appear either as a beneficiary or signatory in any of the exhibits tendered by the EFCC before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
While being cross-examined before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court on Thursday, the witness, who was subpoenaed from Access Bank, also admitted that no transaction in Exhibit 33(8), the statement of accounts, mentioned the name Yahaya Adoza Bello.
The witness was taken through the bank accounts of E-Traders International Limited, Keyless Nature Limited, Westwood Motors Limited and Fazab Business Enterprise.
These were the companies said by the EFCC to have been awarded various contracts by local governments in Kogi State.
After reviewing the account opening packages and statements of accounts of the companies tendered by the EFCC, the witness admitted that Yahaya Bello’s name did not feature as a signatory to any of the account opening packages.
He stated that the former governor was not named as a party to any of the transactions by the companies and was also not listed as a beneficiary of any of the payments.
The witness reiterated that the withdrawals made between May and December 2022, which were referenced during his examination-in-chief, were within the cash withdrawal threshold set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On the issue of suspicious transaction reports said to have been forwarded to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Access Bank official said that not all cash withdrawals made by one Siyaka Yakubu were suspicious.
“My testimony is on the pattern of withdrawals by the customer,” he told the court.
The defendant’s counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, asked, “So the outflow that was transferred by Siyaka to any person in Exhibit 33(8) will not amount to a suspicious transaction (ST)? For example, the N20 million for the supply of educational materials will not qualify as a suspicious transaction?”
“No, my lord, it won’t,” the witness responded.
“So that will naturally apply to all other outflows for which reasons or purposes were stated?” the defence counsel asked.
“My lord, not all cash withdrawals are suspicious, and not all transfers are suspicious or illegal,” the witness said. He also agreed that he did not know the business relationship between the two companies mentioned in some of the outflows between October and December 2022, and that he did not know the purpose of those transactions.
Midway into the proceedings, Justice Emeka Nwite admitted the Certified True Copy of the proceedings before Justice Obiora Egwuatu as Exhibit 35(D-2).
The Access Bank compliance officer was then asked to confirm Exhibit 34(1) and Exhibit 34(2) as the Kogi Government House account opening package and the Government House Administration account, respectively, which he did.
He also admitted that he was not the relationship manager for the accounts, particularly Exhibit 34(2), and added that he was not familiar with the operations of the Kogi State Government House.
While examining Exhibit 34(1), the witness confirmed that the name Aminu Jimoh Olanrewaju appeared as one of the signatories to the account.
When asked to confirm whether Aminu Jimoh Olanrewaju was described as Director of Accounts, the witness answered in the affirmative. He further confirmed that all withdrawals in Exhibit 34(2), made in tranches of N10 million each by Aminu Jimoh Olanrewaju, did not exceed the cash withdrawal limit prescribed by the CBN.
He admitted that the same applied to the cash withdrawals made by Abdulsalam Hudu in Exhibit 34(2).
The defence counsel then asked the witness to go through Exhibit 34(2) to confirm whether the name of the defendant, Yahaya Adoza Bello, appeared in any column as a beneficiary.