Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s nephew’s trial for alleged money laundering to May 23

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday adjourned the trial of Ali Bello, the nephew of former Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, for alleged money laundering to May 23.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Bello, who is currently the Chief of Staff to the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo, alongside one Dauda Suleiman for alleged money to the tune of N10 billion.

But the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The judge adjourned the matter after taking the testimonies of two prosecution witnesses, identified as bank officials.

At the resumed hearing, the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that the 12th prosecution witness (PW-12), Olomotane Edoro, was in court to give his evidence.

READ ALSO: ALLEGED N10BN FRAUD: Trial of Yahaya Bello’s nephew, Ali, resumes July 15

But Bello’s lawyer, Abubakar Aliyu, told the judge that he was not ready to take the witness.

He said the witness sought to be called is an expert witness who would tender a flash drive containing over 5000 pages, which was served on him the previous day.

“It (the document) has been printed this morning, and as I discussed with my learner brother, I need somebody to put me through. So I will need more time, my lord, ” he added.

Oyedepo maintained that the witness wanted to tender the device.

“The person who will speak on it is the investigator. All the witness needs to do is tender it. I discuss with my learner brothers that we are not going to talk about the content.

“The investigator will come and talk about it. We can do that for admissibility,” he stated.

Aliyu responded that his explanation was not about the content of the evidence, but about his need to seek advice.

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