Court accepts bank documents showing alleged diversion of Kogi LGA funds during Bello administration

A Zenith Bank Plc’s staff member, Femi Remigus, on Tuesday, tendered exhibits against Ali Bello, a nephew of former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State in a money laundering trial involving alleged diversion of N3 billion state’s coffers.

Ali is the current Chief of Staff to Yahaya Bello’s successor – Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State,

Mr Remigus, a compliance officer at the bank, tendered the exhibits while appearing as the sixth prosecution witness in Ali’s trial.

He was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Mr Ali, who is a nephew to Governor Ododo’s predecessor, Yahaya Bello. Mr Bello, who was governor for eight years till last year, is facing similar charges of diverting Kogi State Government’s funds before two judges in separate courts.

On 8 February 2023, the EFCC arraigned Ali Bello, alongside Abba Daudu, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege, Iyada Sadat and Rashida Bello (said to be at large) on 18 counts of criminal misappropriation and money laundering of N3,081,804,654.00.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts when they were read to them before trial judge Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

On Tuesday, Mr Remigus, the Zenith Bank official, explained to the judge how millions of naira were deposited into Komfort Koncept Company’s bank account from the bank account names of different local government areas (LGAs) in the state on different dates in 2018.

The witness said that on specific dates, monies were simultaneously transferred from the said account, at different times, into some of the defendants’ bank accounts, especially Mr Daudu’s.

“On 4 October 2018, there were nine credits or inflows into the account of Komfort Koncept Company,” he said.

He told the court that N18,629,944 came from Ibaji LGA of Kogi of Kogi State.

He said N20,887,537 came from Adavi LGA and N17,496,929 came from Kogi LGA.

The prosecution witness also said N18,460,565 came from Kabba LGA while N17 million came from Ankpa LGA.

“Yagba West Local Government credited N18,234,063, while Ofu Local Government credited N21,363,633,” the witness added.

When asked how much was in the Komfort Koncept’s bank account before the inflows, Remigus said: “N7,275.”

According to him, on the date of the inflows, there was a transfer of N105 million to Abba Daudu and others.

Earlier in the proceedings, the EFCC’s witness identified associated bank documents, including the statements of account, account opening packages and certificates of identification of accounts of Komfort Koncept, Mr Yakubu, Mr Daudu, and others.

Mr Oyedepo, the prosecuting lawyer, therefore, applied to tender the documents as exhibits but defence legal team, including Nureni Jimoh, a SAN, objected to the admissibility of the documents but reserved objections for the final written address stage.

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The judge, Mr Egwuatu subsequently admitted the exhibits in evidence, noting that the probative value of the exhibits would be determined by the court during the judgment.

The judge then rescheduled the case for 5, 19, 20, and 21 May.

It would be recalled that the EFCC is also prosecuting Ali Bello in another case before another judge, James Omotosho of the same Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

(NAN)