Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Pierre Antoine
The trial of former Yahaya Adoza Bello continued on Friday at the Federal High Court, where the court dismissed an objection raised by the defence and allowed the prosecution to proceed with further testimony.
Yahaya Adoza Bello is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over a 19-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering involving ₦80,246,470,088.88.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Emeka Nwite, the court ruled on an objection earlier raised by defence counsel, J.B. Daudu, SAN. The defence had argued that the prosecution was attempting to contradict its own witness and suggested that the witness should have been declared hostile.
Lead prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, opposed the objection, stating that the witness had been clear and unambiguous in his testimony.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Nwite held that the objection lacked merit, describing it as speculative and misconceived. He ruled that the relevant provisions of Section 239 of the Evidence Act applied, overruled the objection, and ordered the continuation of trial proceedings.
Following the ruling, the prosecution resumed examination of its twelfth witness, Jamilu Abdullahi, identified in court as a Bureau de Change operator.
In his testimony, Abdullahi said he had multiple foreign exchange dealings with one Abba Adaudu. He told the court that he delivered dollars on Adaudu’s instruction to individuals sent to collect funds whenever Adaudu was unavailable.
The witness also testified about transactions linked to school fees payments. He explained that when he lacked sufficient dollar inflow, he relied on fellow Bureau de Change operators and associated companies to process transfers after agreeing on exchange rates.
According to him, Abba Adaudu brought cash in dollars and instructed him to transfer funds for the payment of school fees for Zahra and Fatima Bello, adding that the transfers were successful.
While being shown documents previously tendered by the prosecution, Abdullahi identified several as records of transactions he facilitated, though he said some were not directly handled by him.
During cross-examination, the witness confirmed that he made only one statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on May 10, 2022, regarding the matter.
He also clarified that although he did not personally execute every transfer, he instructed and facilitated some of the transactions.
On the source of funds used for the school fees payments, Abdullahi told the court that the $300,000 involved was handed to him in cash by Abba Adaudu and an associate, and did not come from the accounts earlier referenced in court.
The witness further stated that collaboration among Bureau de Change operators is common when handling large transactions.
The case was adjourned for continuation of hearing.
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