A prosecution witness within the ongoing trial of Yahaya Bello, former Governor of Kogi State, on Wednesday advised the Federal Capital Territory Excessive Courtroom in Abuja how funds from numerous Kogi State native authorities areas had been allegedly used to service a N2.1 billion mortgage facility.
The witness, Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Entry Financial institution, testified earlier than Maryanne Anineh (Justice) that the mortgage, disbursed to Keyless Nature Restricted in December 2021, was subsequently repaid by inflows traced to Kogi native authorities accounts, with repayments made in structured month-to-month instalments.
Egoro who’s a tenth prosecution witness (PW10), testified below subpoena and gave a breakdown of transactions throughout a number of accounts tendered as reveals by the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC).
Led in proof by Kemi Pinheiro, prosecution counsel, Egoro advised the courtroom {that a} mortgage of N2.1 billion was disbursed into the account of Keyless Nature Restricted on December 14, 2021, as mirrored in Exhibit AU.
When requested whether or not the mortgage was utilised, he responded, “Sure, it was utilised by the client.”
He additional testified that between December 24, 2021, and July 5, 2022, the account acquired a number of credit score inflows from numerous Kogi State native authorities accounts.
Based on him, mortgage repayments made on January 14, February 14, March 14, April 14 and Could 16, 2022, together with curiosity, had been funded from Kogi State native authorities areas.
“As much as December 2022, repayments had been constantly made on the 14th of every month,” the witness stated, including that the sample of compensation from native authorities sources remained unchanged.
On the account of Westwood Restricted (Exhibit AJ), Egoro advised the courtroom {that a} principal mortgage of N818,698,262.29 was disbursed on March 21, 2018.
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He stated that on April 8, 2020, 15 money deposits had been made by a number of people on the Lokoja department of Entry Financial institution in direction of mortgage compensation, whereas 20 comparable money deposits had been made on Could 7, 2020.
He famous that though the Westwood Motors account was domiciled on the Nationwide Meeting department in Abuja, the “avalanche of money deposits” made on the Lokoja department was used to liquidate the mortgage.
The witness additionally recognized Exhibit AH1 because the Kogi State Authorities Home account opening package deal.
Reviewing entries between December 2018 and August 2019, he advised the courtroom there have been “fairly quite a lot of inflows” adopted by withdrawals.
He confirmed that the names Aminu Jimoh Olarenwaju and Abdulsalami Hudu appeared within the statements and had been linked to a number of money withdrawals.
“Sure, my lord, there have been a number of money withdrawals by Aminu Jimoh Olarenwaju and Abdulsalami Hudu,” he stated, including that withdrawals usually adopted nearly instantly after transfers into the account.
Referring to a transaction on December 24, 2018, Egoro stated the financial institution filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) to the Nigerian Monetary Intelligence Unit (NFIU) as a result of the transaction didn’t align with the client’s profile.
“On January 15 and 16, 2019, he testified that Aminu Olarenwaju made 10 money withdrawals of N10 million every per day, amounting to N100 million over the 2 days.
“On March 8, 2019, the identical particular person allegedly made one other 10 withdrawals of N10 million every. Equally, on August 1, 2019, Abdulsalami Hudu was stated to have made 30 withdrawals of N10 million every, totalling ₦300 million.
“The sample of such withdrawals adopted instantly after there was cash within the account,” the witness acknowledged.
Turning to the account of Fazab Enterprise Enterprise (Exhibit AP), Egoro testified that in Could 2022, the account acquired a number of credit score inflows from Kogi State native governments, adopted by a number of withdrawals by one Yakubu Adabenege Siyaka.
He advised the courtroom that a lot of the withdrawals had been structured “to be able to evade the reporting necessities,” although the financial institution nonetheless filed an STR.
Based on the witness, between June and July 2022, complete inflows from numerous Kogi State native governments into the account amounted to N241,631,142.99, whereas complete money withdrawals by Siyaka stood at N203,900,000. He added that from June 2022 alone, N116,600,000 was withdrawn from an influx of about N117.9 million.
An identical sample was stated to have occurred within the account of Hayzma Enterprise Enterprise (Exhibit AO), the place, in August 2022 and earlier in April 2021, a number of credit from Kogi native governments had been adopted by rapid money withdrawals by Siyaka.
On the account of E-Merchants Worldwide Restricted (Exhibit AR), the witness stated that between July 26 and December 30, 2021, in addition to between January 18 and April 30, 2022, Abba Adaudu made a number of money deposits on the Lokoja department of Entry Financial institution.
With respect to Keyless Nature Restricted (Exhibit AT), Egoro advised the courtroom that from January to July 2022, the account acquired a number of inflows from Kogi State native governments.
He disclosed that transfers had been made shortly after the inflows, together with transfers to Keyless Constancy, N20 million to Abba Adaudu, N80 million to a different Keyless Nature account in Entry Financial institution, and N20.5 million to Ejadams Essence Restricted on November 1, 2022.
Beneath cross-examination by P.B. Daudu, , counsel to the primary and second defendants, the witness confirmed that he was not the connection supervisor of the Kogi State Authorities Home account however a compliance officer and subsequently not aware about its inside operations.
On Suspicious Transaction Reviews, he acknowledged that the financial institution maintains an inside file of filed reviews however can not make them public. “The legislation doesn’t permit us to indicate it to the general public,” he stated.
He additionally affirmed that financial institution prospects are entitled to withdraw their funds so long as such withdrawals don’t violate the legislation.
Justice Anineh admitted a sequence of subpoenaed paperwork tendered by the prosecution as Reveals AG, AH1, AH2, AJ, AK, AL, AM, AN, AO, AP, AQ, AR, AS, AT and AU, and adjourned the case to March 10, 11 and 12, 2026, for continuation of trial.
