Money laundering: Court Halts Yahaya Bello’s Attempt to Stop Trial, Knocks Ex-Gov

Money laundering: Court Halts Yahaya Bello’s Attempt to Stop Trial, Knocks Ex-Gov

A Federal High Court in Abuja has refused Yahaya Bello’s plea to postpone his arraignment over money laundering, rebuking the former governor for his non-appearance in court and failure to comply with court directives.

Justice Emeka Nwite criticized Bello for disregarding the court’s orders.

The verdict follows an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which urged the court not to entertain any application from Bello’s legal team until he is arraigned to take his plea.

The EFCC alleged that the former governor and others laundered and stole N80,246,470,088.88, using the same to buy properties in Lagos and Abuja, including warehousing a part of taxpayers’ funds in his personal bank account in the United States.

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Bello’s arraignment followed a warrant of arrest and enrolment order granted to the EFCC by Justice Emeka Nwite, in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/98/2024.

The judge gave an order directing the issuance of an arrest warrant for the immediate arrest of Bello to bring him before the court for arraignment.

Bello’s legal reportedly filed several applications against the arraignment of the former governor.

One of the applications borders on the court’s jurisdiction to preside over Bello’s arraignment when the anti-graft agency allegedly defied an order of a Kogi State High Court restraining his arrest.

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Ruling on EFCC’s application on Friday, Justice Nwite held that it is not in dispute that he fixed a date for the arraignment of the defendant to the knowledge of his lawyers.

He added that it is also not in dispute that the attempt made by the EFCC to arrest Bello failed.

He observed that when the matter came up for arraignment on April 18, 2024, “the defendant was absent for non-justifiable reasons.”

Nwite said the defendant filed several applications to block his arraignment, saying an order of a court must be obeyed until it is set aside.

The judge criticized Bello’s attitude to the court and granted EFCC’s request. The judge said, “He(Bello) has willfully disobeyed the order of the court.

“I must also express that the deliberate refusal of the defendant(Bello) to produce himself is aimed at truncating his arraignment.

“The defendant has no atom of regard for the court. Clearly, the defendant is taking this court for granted. I am of the view that the application made by the complainant, that no application from Bello can be heard until he shows up in court, is meritorious.”

After the ruling was delivered, the ex-governor’s lawyer, Abdul Wahab Mohammed (SAN),  drew the judge’s attention to contempt proceedings against the EFCC chairman by his client, the Kogi State High Court.

Mohammed asked the court to wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal since the EFCC has appealed.

He maintained that contempt proceedings are criminal. But EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court to compel Bello’s lawyers to hallow the sacredness of the court by producing his client.

He said the instant ruling of the trial court has not been appealed or set aside, saying Bello’s legal team should apologize to the court and his colleagues in the legal profession.

He urged the court not to entertain the fresh application in line with its orders. Oyedepo explained that the matter at the Kogi State High Court is for the enforcement of fundamental rights, a civil matter, and the Appeal Court has stayed the proceedings in Kogi.

He asked the court to adjourn the case for arraignment. Nwite subsequently fixed June 13 for arraignment.

The planned arraignment of the Kogi State ex-governor comes amid the ongoing trial of his nephew, Alli Bello, Daudu Suleiman and another for fraud.

They were accused of diverting public funds to the tune of N80.2 billion. In that case, Yahaya Bello was mentioned as an accomplice in some of the counts, implying that security agencies would arraign the ex-governor.