A prosecution witness in the ongoing money laundering trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has reaffirmed that the withdrawals made by the state government did not violate any banking laws.
The witness, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, who serves as a Compliance Officer at Zenith Bank, made the clarification on Monday while being cross-examined by Joseph Daudu (SAN), counsel to the former governor, before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Bata, who testified as the fourth prosecution witness (PW4) for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), also admitted that Bello’s name did not appear as a beneficiary in the bank account statements presented as evidence before the court.
During cross-examination, Daudu drew the witness’s attention to several transactions by Umar Comfort Olufunke, which were not mentioned during the earlier testimony.
Bata confirmed that Olufunke made multiple withdrawals of ₦10 million each between December 2017 and April 2018, noting that the funds were paid to various hotels in Kogi State.
He further testified that another individual, Alhassan Omakoji, made withdrawals between November 2021 and December 2022, none of which exceeded ₦10 million per transaction, amounts he said were within the limits set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Bata also told the court that he was not aware of any specific law governing how the Kogi State Government spends its allocations or internally generated funds.
Following the testimony, Justice Nwite discharged the witness after prosecuting counsel Rotimi Pinheiro (SAN) informed the court that there would be no re-examination.
