N9bn Court Case: Witness Reveals Malami's Spouse Used Hotel Account to Transfer Money

Proceedings in the trial of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, on money laundering charges continued at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, with a bank official detailing how funds were repeatedly transferred to the defendant through a hotel's bank account.

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The witness, Mr. Daniel Simon Kwayil, a compliance officer, stated that the funds were transferred from the account of Meethaq Hotels Limited, which has Malami's wife, Hajia Asabe Rakiya Bashir, as its sole signatory.

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Kwayil, who testified as the second prosecution witness, identified Malami's wife, who was present in the dock, during the proceedings, and revealed that she was the sole signatory to the hotel's account, as reflected in the account opening documents.

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Malami, who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, is facing trial alongside his son, Abdulaziz, and his wife, Asabe, on a 16-count amended charge of conspiracy, disguising, concealing, and laundering the proceeds of unlawful activities.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alleged that the defendants laundered public funds totaling about N9 billion, and that Malami resorted to acquiring choice properties in various cities and states, including Abuja, Kebbi, and Kano, to hide his proceeds of crime.

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The anti-graft agency also told the court that the defendants used a firm, Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited, to conceal over N1.01 billion in a bank account between July 2022 and June 2025, and that they used the same company to siphon about N600 million between September 2020 and February 2021.

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The defendants were accused of retaining N600 million in March 2021 as cash collateral for a N500 million loan that the firm, Rayhaan Hotels Ltd, obtained from a bank, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime.

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The defendants were said to have acted in breach of several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, and were initially remanded in prison custody after they pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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However, the court granted them bail on March 6, in the sum of N200 million each, with two sureties in like sum.

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At the resumed proceedings on Monday, the PW-2, led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Mr. J. S. Okutepa, SAN, told the court that the bank had received a letter from the EFCC in 2025, requesting documents relating to account number 0179011105, operated by Meethaq Hotels Limited.

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Kwayil revealed that on February 5, 2024, there was a payment of N14 million by instant transfer to the former AGF, on the hotel's order, and that on March 4, 2024, there was another transfer of N24 million in favor of Malami from the hotel.

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He also stated that on May 3, 2024, there was a transfer of N12,500,000 in favor of Malami, as reflected on page 38 of an exhibit before the court.

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Kwayil identified Malami's wife as the signatory to the account of the hotel, and said her identification card appeared on pages 11 and 12 of the account opening documents.

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The witness stated that the statement of account of the hotel spanned pages 34 to 41 of the exhibit, where both inflows and outflows were captured, and that on November 3, 2022, the account received two deposits of N1,745,242.73 and N21,202,209.36.

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He revealed that on November 8, 2022, the account received N685,200.00 and N685,400, as well as another N1,047,019.55 on November 18, 2022, and that on November 28, 2022, the account received N10 million twice from YMB Energy Limited.

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Kwayil also stated that on December 2, 2022, the account received N4,565,320.58, while on December 5, 2022, it received N4,828,880.56, and that on December 20, 2022, there was an inflow of N1,83,686.44 into the account.

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He told the court that on January 10, 2023, the account received N43,177,453.94, and another N4,650,781.50, and that on January 17, 2023, the account received N915,540.84, while on February 12, 2023, it received N25,483,054.24.

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The witness further stated that on March 3, 2025, there was an inflow of N11,166,235.10, another N118,814.64 on March 14, 2023, as well as N13,388,808.38 on April 3, 2023, all from the hotel.

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After the PW-2 was discharged from the box, the EFCC produced its third witness, Mr. Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with a bank, who told the court that the bank received a request from the EFCC for documents relating to Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Nigeria Limited and Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative.

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Egoro stated that the documents included forwarding letters, certificates of identification, account opening documents, loan offer letter, memorandum of acceptance, and statements of account, and that the correspondences were dated February 6 and February 9, 2026.

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When the prosecution sought to tender the documents, counsel to the defendants, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN, objected, insisting that the statement of the witness was not made available to him beforehand to enable him to confirm if he was testifying on subpoena.

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Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ruled that since the bank was listed among those expected to testify, the defense reserved the right to cross-examine the witness and to also request time to study his evidence, if necessary.

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Egoro told the court that Malami's son was the sole signatory to the bank account of Rayhaan Bustan and Agro Allied Nigeria Limited, as reflected in the loan offer documents, and that the loan offer of N400 million was contained in pages 4 to 4E, including the acceptance letter.

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He stated that the loan was disbursed on October 9, 2020, into the account of Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited and was fully repaid on July 14, 2022, and that on November 10, 2020, N100 million was transferred from the account to New Horizon Limited.

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The witness added that on the same date, N10,575,360 was also transferred to the same company, and that there were additional transfers of N20 million in five tranches totaling N100 million to New Horizon Limited on the same day.

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Egoro told the court that on October 9, 2020, the account received N400 million, being the principal disbursement under the loan facility, and that on the same day, there was a debit of N4 million as management fee and N300,000 as VAT.

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He stated that on November 10, 2020, there was a debit of N1,185,792.35 as main interest liquidation, and that testifying on Exhibit C2, relating to Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiative, the signatories to the account were Malami's son, Usman Gotomo Abubakar, and Faruku Abubakar.

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The witness said the first inflow into the account occurred on October 17, 2019, when N500,000 was paid by Abdulaziz Malami, and that another N500,000 was paid by the same person on October 23, 2019.

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Egoro disclosed that on October 28, 2019, the account received N1,720,000, and that on October 29, 2019, Musa Yamilu Galadanci paid N1,500,000, while on October 30, 2019, Chimugu Surajo paid N1,200,000.

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He stated that on October 4, 2019, the account received N8 million from Afuwa Services Limited, and that on November 5, 2019, A.A. Funtua FX Limited paid N1 million, while on November 6, 2019, there was a cash deposit of N2 million by Faruku Madugu Gwandu.

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The witness told the court that on November 27, 2019, N500,000 was deposited by Aliyu Gwandu, while on November 28, 2019, Halliru Bala paid N2,500,000, and that on January 29, 2020, Afuwa Integrated Services Limited paid N10 million.

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Egoro stated that on January 23, 2020, the same company paid in N15 million, and that the total lodgment into the Khadimi