On Thursday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Access Bank prosecution witness, Olom Otane Egoro, has concluded his testimony against a nephew of the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Adoza Bello and his co-accused, Daudu Sulaiman
The nephew, Ali Bello now Chief of Staff to governor Ododo Ahmed Usman is standing trial over the alleged criminal diversion of N10 billion belonging to Kogi State Government.
Before the case was adjourned till July 15, 2024, the presiding Judge, Justice James Omotosho, with the defence cross-examining a prosecution witness, Olom Otane Egoro, an Access Bank staff member.
The prosecution witness is the sixth in counts of those who witnessed against the defendants, affirming that the controversial N10 billion belonged to Kogi State government which was laundered during the tenure of the immediate past governor, Yahaya Bello.
CAPITAL POST recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arrested the two defendants in 2022 and charged them in court.
Earlier on 6 May, EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), led Mr Egoro, an official of the compliance unit of the bank, in evidence as the sixth prosecution witness (PW6).
In his evidence-in-chief, the banker told the court that the bank received a letter from the EFCC requesting account statements of the Kogi Government House from 2018 to 2021.
He said the commission also asked for other documents, including the account opening mandate for the account and certificate of compliance regarding the printouts.
The witness thereafter went through the account statement detailing the various electronic and cash deposits and withdrawals on the account under review.
Mr Egoro identified withdrawals of N10 million each in different tranches.
The witness, however, did not give details, including who deposited the funds, the purposes of the deposits and at whose instance they withdrew the funds, before concluding his testimony.
Mr Oyedepo tendered the bank documents through the witness. The court admitted them in evidence accordingly.
During the cross-examination of the witness by Ali’s lawyer, Abubakar Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Egoro admitted there was no lodgement or withdrawal linked to the former Kogi State governor Mr Bello in the bank documents.
The witness equally admitted that the staff of the compliance unit of the bank were not responsible for running and maintaining the bank’s servers which generated the bank transactions’ details.
He added that it was the duty of the bank’s ICT Department to manage the bank servers.
The lawyer to the co-defendant, Mr Suleiman, Olusegun Jolaawo, also a SAN, equally cross-examined the sixth prosecution witness.
