A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday declined a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to cross-examine one of its own witnesses in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, held that the prosecution failed to follow the laid down procedure for declaring a witness hostile before being allowed to cross-examine them.
“I must agree with the learned counsel to the defendant that the EFCC can only cross-examine its own witness after it has declared such witness a hostile witness,” the judge said.
“The argument of the learned counsel to the prosecution is misconceived. This honourable court is not shutting the prosecution from re-examining the witness, but must restrict itself to pages 1, 14 and 15 of Exhibit 19 where issues were addressed by the defence. The prosecution is not allowed to re-examine the witness outside the pages prescribed.”
The witness in question, Nicholas Ojehomon, an internal auditor at the American International School, Abuja (AISA), had testified that there was no money transferred from the Kogi State Government or its local councils into the school’s account.
Ojehomon’s testimony aligns with a previous ruling by the Federal Capital Territory High Court which stated that there was no evidence the funds paid to AISA were proceeds of crime. The judgment also noted that there was no order compelling the school to refund the money to the EFCC.
At Thursday’s proceedings, the prosecution called a second witness, Mshelia Bata, a compliance officer at Zenith Bank.
Bata, subpoenaed by the court, confirmed that the EFCC received certified true copies of account statements from the bank.
While being led in evidence by prosecution counsel Kemi Pinheiro, she explained the bank’s procedure on cash withdrawals prior to the enforcement of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy, stating that the daily threshold was N10 million for government accounts and N500,000 for individuals.
She also confirmed a cash withdrawal of N10 million made on May 23, 2016, by one Abdulsalami Hudu, then a cashier at the Kogi State Government House.
“It is a cash withdrawal of N10 million in accordance with the then maximum threshold allowed for cheque withdrawal per transaction,” she said.
Bata further testified that on that same date, there were nine other cash withdrawals. She also confirmed that on January 30, 2018, ten different credits totalling about N1.092 billion were made into the same account.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Joseph Daudu, Bata admitted that there were several withdrawals in tranches on multiple days totalling about N1.9 billion. Daudu described the payments as “security votes.”
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until Friday, for the continuation of trial.
Bello is facing charges of money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion. The EFCC alleges that the former governor diverted state funds through proxies and cronies while in office and purchased properties in Nigeria and abroad using stolen funds.
The embattled politician has repeatedly denied the allegations, insisting they are politically motivated.
The EFCC is expected to call more witnesses as the trial progresses.
