Money Laundering Trial: Court Grants Malami, Wife, and Son ₦200m Bail Each

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted bail to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside his wife and son in their ongoing N9 billion money laundering case brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Malami and the two family members are standing trial on a 16-count charge relating to alleged money laundering offences.

At Friday’s proceedings, the trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, directed the prosecution to present its first witness after defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, attempted to draw the court’s attention to the defendants’ pending bail application.

The judge, however, reminded counsel that she had earlier ruled that the bail request and other pending motions would only be considered after the prosecution’s first witness had delivered his evidence-in-chief.

Following the court’s directive, the EFCC called its first witness, David Ajoma, a compliance officer with Sterling Bank, who informed the court that he had worked with the bank for about three years handling compliance requests from law enforcement agencies.

Ajoma told the court that on December 2, 2025, the bank received a request from the EFCC seeking records relating to loan facilities granted to Rayham Hotel Limited.

According to him, Sterling Bank subsequently submitted the requested documentation, including the account opening package, loan statements and other relevant records.

The witness explained that the loan granted to Rayham Hotel Limited was secured by cash collateral provided by Metropolitan Autotech. He further stated that both companies maintain separate accounts with the bank and that the Metropolitan Autotech account is operated by a signatory identified as Hassan Aliyu.

During cross-examination, Ajoma admitted that he was not the relationship manager for either Rayham Hotel Limited or Metropolitan Autotech and therefore lacked detailed knowledge about the specific inflows or purposes of transactions within the accounts.

He also confirmed that Malami’s name did not appear in the loan application documents submitted before the court.

Instead, he said the only name listed on the loan application was Abdulaziz Malami, who signed the documents in his capacity as Managing Director of Rayham Hotel Limited.

Ajoma further told the court that none of the transactions reviewed by the bank originated from any government account, the Federal Ministry of Justice or from Malami personally.

The compliance officer added that based on the documents available, he was unable to identify any suspicious transactions linked to the accounts under review, noting that none of the transactions violated regulations issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

After the witness concluded his testimony, defence counsel applied for bail for the three defendants.

The EFCC informed the court that it did not oppose the application but requested that strict conditions be imposed to ensure the defendants remain available for trial.

Delivering her ruling, Justice Abdulmalik granted bail to each of the defendants in the sum of N200 million, with two sureties in like amount.

The court ruled that one of the sureties must provide title documents for a landed property located in either Maitama or Asokoro in Abuja.

The judge also ordered the defendants to surrender their international passports to the court registrar.

Pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions, the court directed that the defendants be held in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

The case was subsequently adjourned until March 16 for continuation of the trial.