CRIME

Court Admits Account Of American International School As Exhibit Against Yahaya Bello Over Alleged N80.2bn Fraud

<h4>&NewLine;Court Admits Account Of American International School<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission&comma; EFCC on Monday&comma; February 24&comma; 2025&comma; presented its first round of witnesses in the trial of former Kogi State Governor&comma; Yahaya Bello&comma; before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also presented was the statement of account and account opening package for American International School&comma; Abuja&comma; Account No&period; 1000684346&comma; covering September 1&comma; 2020&comma; to September 30&comma; 2020&period; These were admitted as Exhibits 521-5277&comma; while the statement of account was marked as Exhibits 621-622&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bello is facing a 19-count charge of criminal breach of trust and money laundering amounting to N80&period;2 billion&period; The charges are in violation of Section 18&lpar;a&rpar; and punishable under Section 15&lpar;3&rpar; of the Money Laundering &lpar;Prohibition&rpar; Act&comma; 2011 &lpar;as amended&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The EFCC’s first witness&comma; Segun Joseph Adeleke&comma; General Manager of EFAB Properties Limited&comma; testified under examination by the EFCC’s lead counsel&comma; Kemi Pinheiro&comma; SAN&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During questioning&comma; Adeleke confirmed that a property located at House 12&comma; 59 Crescent&comma; Fifth Avenue&comma; Gwarimpa&comma; Abuja&comma; was purchased by one <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Nuhu Mohammed<&sol;a> for N70 million&period; He explained that the payment was made via bank transfer and that his company issued relevant documents&comma; including proof of payment and allocation letters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;24475" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-24475" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-24475" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;04&sol;EFCC456-e1712334155575-300x142&period;webp" alt&equals;"Court Admits Account Of American International School As Exhibit Against Yahaya Bello Over Alleged N80&period;2bn Fraud" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"142" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-24475" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>EFCC<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Further inquiries revealed that EFAB Properties received N550 million for another transaction&period; Adeleke stated that the company followed its standard procedure in processing the transaction&comma; including documents signed by its Chairman&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When asked whether he could identify the origin of the N70 million transfer&comma; Adeleke admitted he did not know its source&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Under cross-examination by defence counsel J&period;B&period; Daudu&comma; SAN&comma; Adeleke confirmed that he acted on instructions from his Chairman and had no personal involvement in initiating the transactions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Regarding a separate property in Ikogosi&comma; he clarified that the land had one Certificate of Occupancy &lpar;C of O&rpar; and was partitioned into two sections labeled 1A and 3B&period; He stated that his company did not use house numbers or street names but rather plot numbers for documentation purposes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Adeleke also testified that Shehu Bello purchased one of the properties but could not recall the dollar equivalent of the N550 million transaction&period; He stated that legal documents were signed by the company’s Chairman and given to Bello for his signature&comma; but the signed copies were never returned to EFAB Properties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When asked whether Bello’s name appeared in any title documents or if he ever saw him during the transactions&comma; Adeleke answered in the negative&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Following Adeleke’s testimony&comma; the EFCC called its second witness&comma; Williams Abimbola&comma; a compliance officer with the United Bank for Africa &lpar;UBA&rpar;&comma; stationed at Area 3&comma; Garki&comma; Abuja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Abimbola confirmed receiving a subpoena from the EFCC and presented a copy in court&period; The document was admitted as Exhibit 1 without objection from the defence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The prosecution also tendered the statement of account and account opening package for Kogi State Government House Account No&period; 1003889575&comma; covering January 1&comma; 2016&comma; to January 31&comma; 2024&period; The document was admitted as Exhibits 2P1 to P61&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additionally&comma; the EFCC presented the statement of account and account opening package for American International School&comma; Abuja&comma; Account No&period; 1000684346&comma; covering September 1&comma; 2020&comma; to September 30&comma; 2020&period; These were admitted as Exhibits 521-5277&comma; while the statement of account was marked as Exhibits 621-622&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following the admission of these exhibits&comma; the court adjourned the trial to March 6 and 7&comma; 2025&comma; for the continuation of proceedings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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