A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, his wife, Asabe Bashir, and their son, Abdulaziz Malami, who are standing trial over an alleged N9 billion money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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The defendants are being prosecuted on a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, the trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, directed the EFCC to proceed with its first witness after counsel to the defendants, Joseph Daudu, SAN, sought to draw the court’s attention to their pending bail application.
Justice Abdulmalik, however, reminded counsel that she had earlier ruled that the bail application and other preliminary motions would be considered only after the prosecution’s first witness had given his evidence-in-chief.
Following the ruling, the EFCC called its first witness, David Ajoma, a compliance officer with Sterling Bank in Abuja.
Ajoma told the court that he had worked with the bank for about three years and was responsible for handling compliance requests from law enforcement agencies.
He testified that on December 2, 2025, Sterling Bank received a request from the EFCC seeking details of loan facilities granted to Rayham Hotel Limited. According to him, the bank subsequently forwarded the requested documents, including the account opening package, loan account statements and other relevant records.
The witness further told the court that the loan facility granted to Rayham Hotel Limited was backed by a cash collateral provided by Metropolitan Autotech.
He explained that both Metropolitan Autotech and Rayham Hotel Limited maintain separate accounts with Sterling Bank, adding that the signatory to the Metropolitan Autotech account is one Hassan Aliyu.
Under cross-examination, Ajoma admitted that he was not the relationship manager for either Rayham Hotel Limited or Metropolitan Autotech and was therefore not privy to the specific details or purposes of inflows into the accounts.
He also confirmed that the name of the former AGF, Abubakar Malami, did not appear on the loan application documents presented before the court. According to him, the only name on the loan application was Abdulaziz Malami, who signed as the Managing Director of Rayham Hotel Limited.
Ajoma further told the court that none of the transactions reviewed by the bank originated from any government account, the Federal Ministry of Justice, or from Malami personally.
The compliance officer added that from the documents available before the court, he could not identify any suspicious transaction linked to the accounts under review and that no transaction was found to be in breach of regulations issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
After the witness concluded his testimony, counsel to the defendants moved the bail application for Malami, his wife and their son.
The EFCC informed the court that it was not opposed to the application but urged the judge to impose conditions that would ensure the defendants’ availability for trial.
Ruling on the application, Justice Abdulmalik granted bail to the three defendants in the sum of N200 million each with two sureties in like sum.
The court ordered that one of the sureties must deposit the title deeds of a property located in either Maitama or Asokoro, both highbrow districts in Abuja. The judge also directed the defendants to deposit their international passports with the court registrar.
Pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions, Justice Abdulmalik ordered that the defendants be remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The case was subsequently adjourned until March 16 for the continuation of trial.
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