$2.3m received from Adoke was for repayment of bank loan —Witness

The former Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Rislanudeen Mohammed, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday the $2, 267,400 the bank received from a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Adoke, was not part of proceeds of crime but for the repayment of a N300 million loan he took from the bank.

He stated this at the resumed trial of the ex-AGF and a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar, for alleged money laundering.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on August 4 re-arraigned Adoke and Abubakar on an amended 14-count charge of money laundering.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mohammed, who was led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Bala Sanga, said he has been friends with Adoke since 1990.

He added that the ex-AGF requested a loan of N300 million from Unity bank sometime in 2012.

He disclosed that due to incomplete documentation for the account, a temporary overdraft facility was initiated and the loan was approved.

READ ALSO: EFCC re-arraigns Adoke over Malabu scam

The witness told the court that he later approached Adoke after the branch manager of Unity Bank informed him that a fee of N6 million had not been paid.

The ex-minister later sent the N6 million through his driver and it was handed over to the branch manager.

Testifying further, Mohammed said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) came to the bank to carry out a risk management assessment and the bank was queried for having a plethora of non-performing loans.

He said due to the good relationship he had with Adoke, he mounted pressure on him to repay the loan in order to avoid his name being published as part of defaulters having non-performing loans.

Adoke later invited him to his residence and gave him a cash sum of $2,267,400.

“He called me to his house and gave me the money in a black bag. It was taken from the boot of his car into the boot of my car,” the witness said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now