A Federal High Court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Friday granted bail to former attorney general Abubakar Malami, his wife and their son in an ongoing 9-billion-naira ($5.8 million) money-laundering trial brought by the country’s anti-graft agency.
Malami, who served as attorney general under former president Muhammadu Buhari, is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count charge alongside his family members.
At Friday’s hearing, trial judge Justice Joyce Abdulmalik directed prosecutors to call their first witness before considering the defendants’ bail application.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe EFCC’s first witness, David Ajoma, a compliance officer with Sterling Bank in Abuja, told the court the bank received a request from the EFCC on December 2, 2025 seeking information about loan facilities granted to Rayham Hotel Limited.
Ajoma said the bank subsequently submitted the account opening documents, loan account statements and other records requested by investigators.
He told the court that the loan facility granted to Rayham Hotel Limited was backed by cash collateral provided by another company, Metropolitan Autotech, which maintains a separate account with the bank.
According to the witness, the Metropolitan Autotech account is operated by a signatory identified as Hassan Aliyu.
Under cross-examination, Ajoma acknowledged that he was not the relationship manager for either of the accounts and therefore did not know the specific purposes of transactions made through them.
He also confirmed that Malami’s name did not appear on the loan application documents presented in court.
The only name listed on the loan application was Abdulaziz Malami, who signed as managing director of Rayham Hotel Limited, the witness said.
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Ajoma further testified that none of the transactions reviewed by the bank originated from government accounts, the Federal Ministry of Justice or from Malami personally.
He added that based on the documents before the court, the bank did not identify any suspicious transactions or breaches of Central Bank of Nigeria regulations linked to the accounts.
After the testimony, defence lawyers applied for bail for the three defendants. The EFCC said it did not oppose the application but asked the court to impose conditions to ensure they would appear for trial.
Justice Abdulmalik granted each defendant bail of 200 million naira with two sureties in the same amount.
The court ordered that one of the sureties must present title documents for a property located in either Maitama or Asokoro districts of Abuja. The defendants were also directed to surrender their international passports to the court registrar.
Pending fulfilment of the bail conditions, the judge ordered that the defendants be held in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The case was adjourned until March 16 for continuation of the trial.
Prosper Okoye is a Correspondent and Research Writer at Prime Business Africa, a Nigerian journalist with experience in development reporting, public affairs, and policy-focused storytelling across Africa
