Yahaya Bello: Court Rejects EFCC’s Request To Cross-Examine Witness

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has declined a move by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to cross-examine its third witness in the ongoing alleged money laundering case against the immediate-past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

Delivering his ruling on Thursday, Justice Nwite noted that no provision in law permits the court to allow the prosecution to re-examine its witness in the manner proposed.

On the ruling against the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness by the EFCC, the judge agreed with the learned counsel for the defendant that the prosecution can only cross-examine after it has declared the witness a hostile one.

The judge said, “The argument of the learned counsel for the prosecution is misconceived. This honourable court is not shutting the prosecution from re-examining the witness, but it must restrict itself to pages 1, 14 and 15 of Exhibit 19.

“The prosecution is not allowed to re-examine the witness outside the pages prescribed.”

After a brief re-examination and the withdrawal of an earlier question posed to the witness, the EFCC lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), told the court that the commission had three other witnesses for the day.

During the examination, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, confirmed that certificates of identification were attached to the statements of account provided by the bank in the seven sets of documents presented, as requested.

The court, thereafter, admitted the statements of account of the Kogi State Government House Administration and six others as exhibits.

The witness, on subpoena, educated the court on the withdrawal limits allowed for individuals, corporate organisations and the government, saying that before the cashless policy, it was pegged at ₦10 million for the government.

The prosecution then took him to May 23, 2016, on the printed documents and pointed at a transaction under the name, Abdulsalami Hudu.

When the witness was asked to explain the transaction, he said, “It is a cash withdrawal of ₦10 million in accordance with the then maximum threshold allowed for cheque withdrawal per transaction.”

He, however, said he had nine cash transactions on the same date.

The witness was told to go to the credit transactions of January 30, 2018, and he confirmed that there were 10 separate credits of various sums, totaling about ₦1.092bn.

When asked to mention the total amount of withdrawals, the defendant’s counsel interjected, saying that the prosecution knew that they were for security votes.

The witness aggregated the total amount of withdrawals to ₦1.968 billion, saying they were on different dates.

He also read out the inflow and outflow between May 2 and May 19, 2018.

After the examination by the prosecution, the judge adjourned the case to June 27, 2025, for cross-examination by the defendant’s counsel.