The 14th prosecution witness in the ongoing alleged money laundering trial of the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and two others, on Friday told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory that he never had any conversation with the three defendants regarding the property before the court.
The witness, Ramadan Jibrin, a staff member of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), said while being cross-examined by the defendants’ counsel, Abdullahi Yahaya, SAN, that he also never received instructions from any of the three defendants.
Shuaib Oricha and Abdusalam Hudu are the 2nd and 3rd defendants in the N110 billion alleged money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the former governor.
The witness admitted that he had earlier testified as the fifth prosecution witness at the Federal High Court in the suit marked “FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022” before Justice James Omotosho.
He agreed that throughout the course of the transaction, he never met any of the three defendants present in court.
The witness said he received instructions to be part of the transaction regarding the property located at No. 35 Danube Street, Maitama, through one Shehu Bello Bala.
Jibrin also admitted that he was not present when payment for the property was made, noting that one Yakubu Haruna was the person who told him the amount paid.
“So, because you were not there, you wouldn’t know in what currency the payment was made,” the defendants’ counsel told the witness.
“Yes, I was told,” he responded.
“Everything you know about the currency is what you were told,” Yahaya, SAN, said.
“Yes,” the witness responded.
The witness had earlier told the court that sometime in January 2022, he received a call from Shehu Bello Bala, whom he described as his friend, informing him that some agents had introduced the property before the court for sale.
He said he was asked to help conduct due diligence on the property, which he did.
According to him, he received a call on Friday, January 15, 2022, that payment for the property would be made after Friday prayers and that he should remain on standby.
He told the prosecution counsel that he interfaced with Ali Bello through Shehu Bala.
He said it was Yakubu who informed him of the amount for which the property was sold, noting that he only collected the documents and passed them to Shehu Bala for onward transmission to Ali Bello.
The witness said: “I was given a name, White Tree Nigerian Limited, to assist in preparing the relevant documents relating to the transaction. So, I prepared the deed of assignment between Palchi Ventures Limited as the assignor and White Tree Nigerian Limited as the assignee.
“The power of attorney was done between the same parties as the donor and donee. I handed over the documents to Barr. Yakubu for his client to execute their own part, which was done and returned to me sometime in March 2022, and I handed them over to Shehu Bello Bala.”
Justice Maryann Anenih thereafter fixed ruling on a pending application for May 22 and adjourned the matter to June 16 and 17 for continuation of trial.