A prosecution witness on Tuesday gave details of several high-value transactions that passed through the account of Alkausar Farm, one of the entities linked to the alleged N8.7 billion money laundering charge against former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

The witness, Munawwarah Salisu Anas, who is a Compliance Officer with Jaiz Bank Plc, gave evidence before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court in Abuja, as the fifth prosecution witness (PW5) in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the trio on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8,713,923,759.49, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, prosecution counsel, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, informed the court that the matter was slated for continuation of trial and called the witness to testify.

Led in evidence by Okutepa, the witness told the court that, as a compliance officer with Jaiz Bank, her responsibilities include interfacing with law enforcement agencies, including the EFCC.

When asked whether she received any correspondence from the EFCC in the course of her duties, she answered in the affirmative and identified a letter from the Commission requesting account-related documents.

According to the witness, the bank responded through a letter dated February 4, 2026, addressed to the Executive Chairman of the EFCC.

Okutepa thereafter sought to tender the bank’s response and accompanying documents in evidence.

Defence counsel, Adedayo Adedeji, SAN, reserved his objection until the final written address and Justice Abdulmalik admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as Exhibit E Series.

Explaining the contents of the exhibit, the witness said, “Page one is the forwarding letter, page 2 is the certificate of identification, pages 3 to 25 are the account opening documents, while pages 26 to 30 are the statement of account of Alkausar farm.”

While reviewing the account statement before the court, Anas identified several inflows and outflows in the account and testified that, on June 13, 2018, the account received a cash deposit of N1 million from Hassan Aliyu, while on June 20, 2018, it received another cash deposit of N2.25 million from Aliyu Mohammed.

The witness further told the court that on December 7, 2018, the account received multiple inflows from Kalamu Wahid Global Concept, including transfers of N10 million each on four occasions and an additional transfer of N8 million on the same day.

She also disclosed that on December 18, 2018, the account recorded a debit transfer of N45.5 million to Donaliv Global Nigeria Limited.

Continuing her testimony, Anas stated that the account received N26.25 million from Al-Afiya Energy Limited on July 13, 2020, and another N26.25 million from the same company on July 22, 2020.

She further revealed that on July 24, 2020, the account recorded a transfer debit of N50 million to Sahad Stores Limited and another transfer debit of N1 million to Alfagai Jewelry Nigeria Limited.

The witness also told the court that, on August 12, 2020, the account received a transfer credit of N2.03 million, adding that on the same day, a cheque withdrawal of N2.03 million was made by one Aliyu Mohammed Hassan.

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, the witness confirmed that she did not appear before the court pursuant to a subpoena.

When asked whether she knew the purpose of the inflows and outflows reflected in the account statement, she responded: “Yes, we know because we monitor and report to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) if the transactions are suspicious.”

Following the conclusion of cross-examination and in the absence of any re-examination, the witness was discharged and the court adjourned the matter till July 17, 2026, for continuation of the trial.

Malami, his wife and son were re-arraigned on February 27 over an alleged money laundering charge but pleaded not guilty.

They were, thereafter, remanded in Kuje and Suleja Correctional Centres before their bail application was heard.

Justice Abdulmalik, on March 6, admitted them to a N200 million bail each with two sureties each in like sum.

The judge ordered that one of the sureties must deposit his or her title deeds of a landed property located at Maitama or Asokoro Districts of Abuja, to the registrar of the court.

The judge also ordered the defendants to also deposit their international passports with the court. (TRIBUNE)

Update news