Court Grants Malami Family N200m Bail in Money Laundering Case

On a recent court ruling, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik granted bail to Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation, along with his wife and son, each set at N200 million. The court mandated that they provide two sureties and deposit title documents for properties located in Abuja's Maitama and Asokoro districts.

Additionally, they must surrender their international passports to remain with the Nigerian Correctional Service until the bail conditions are met. The defendants are facing a re-arraignment on 16 counts of charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which allege a conspiracy to launder N8.1 billion from 2015 to 2025 through bank accounts linked to Malami's family.

The EFCC presented its first witness, David Ajoma, a compliance officer at Sterling Bank, who provided documents regarding loan facilitation for Rayham Hotel Limited, which allegedly involved cash collateral from Metropolitan Autotech. However, during cross-examination, Ajoma could not clarify the purpose of transactions related to Malami's name, which did not appear in the loan application documents.