Alleged money laundering: Court returns ex-AGF Malami, son, wife to prison

2026-02-27 - 11:38

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, returned the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who is answering to a money laundering charge, to prison custody. Equally remanded in prison by trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik were Malami’s son, Abdulaziz, and one of his wives, Hajia Bashir Asabe. The court issued the remand order after the trio were re-arraigned on a 16-count charge that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) preferred against them. The defendants were alleged to have laundered public funds totalling about N9billion. While the court directed that the former Justice Minister and his son be kept at Kuje prison, the wife, Asabe, was remanded at Suleja prison in Niger State. The defendants will remain in detention until March 6 when their bail applications will be heard by the court. The defence lawyer, Joseph Daudu, SAN, had, after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge against them, prayed for them to be allowed to go home on the bail the court earlier granted to them on January 7. Daudu, SAN, drew the attention of the court to the bail conditions the court listed in the ruling that was delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite who initially presided over the case as a vacation judge. On his part, counsel to the EFCC, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, confirmed that the defendants had earlier perfected all the bail conditions. However, Justice Abdulmalik stressed that the case started de-novo (afresh) before her, stressing that proceedings that took place under Justice Nwite had legally terminated. She insisted the defendants must file a fresh bail application before the court. Spirited effort by the defence lawyer to persuade the court to allow the defendants to make oral applications for bail proved futile. The court ordered the defendants to file a formal request for bail. The EFCC had alleged that Malami who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, had in a bid to hide his proceeds of crime, resorted to acquiring choice properties in various cities and states, including Abuja, Kebbi, and Kano. It told the court that the defendants had, between July 2022 and June 2025, used a firm- Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited- to conceal over N1.01bn in a Sterling Bank account. They were further accused of using the same company to siphon about N600million between September 2020 and February 2021. Likewise, EFCC told the court that the defendants had retained N600m in March 2021 as cash collateral for a N500m loan that the firm—Rayhaan Hotels Ltd—obtained from Sterling Bank, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime. The defendants were said to have acted in breach of several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011. Among those billed to testify against them were investigators, bank officials, real estate agents and Bureau de Change operators. The embattled former AGF is also facing a five-count charge of terrorism financing and illegal possession of firearms, which the Department of State Services (DSS) filed against him and his son. It will be recalled that Malami was arrested and detained by the DSS after he perfected all the bail conditions in the case the EFCC entered against him and was released from prison custody.