Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in the trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, for alleged money laundering to April 3.
The judge adjourned the case after the first witness, Fabian Nworah, a property developer, was called to testify in the matter.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on November 27, 2024, arraigned Bello alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge of criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4billion.
In Wednesday’s proceeding, the prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), informed the court that he had five witnesses to call for the day.
But the judge said she could only take one witness as she had other matters to attend to.
She also announced that the court would not be sitting on Thursday as previously scheduled.
The defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), however, told the court that the prosecution had not made the statements on oath of the 2nd defendant available to the defence team.
The counsel said he was aware that the first defendant had not made any statement.
Daudu also objected to the witness presented by the prosecution, arguing that the defendants had no prior knowledge of the witness and were only seeing him in court for the first time.
“The statements of the second defendant have not been served on us to be able to know if we will be able to represent him or not.
“So, it is a serious handicap on us. They need to serve us all the statements made by the defendants.
“I understand the first defendant has not made a statement. Fortunately, we are still within the housekeeping stage of the proceeding,” he added.
