Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, his son, Abdulaziz Malami, and an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited, Hajia Asabe Bashir, will spend the New Year at the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, following an order of a Federal High Court in the capital.
Justice Emeka Nwite on Tuesday ordered their remand after they were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy and concealment of proceeds of unlawful activities.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Their lawyers subsequently moved oral applications for bail, but the court declined to entertain them, ruling that doing so would amount to a denial of fair hearing to the prosecution.
Justice Nwite explained that a written bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution in court on Tuesday, stressing that the law requires the prosecution to be given adequate time to respond.
According to the judge, the court could not on its own withdraw the written application simply because the defence opted to move an oral one. He held that hearing and granting the oral application would amount to ambushing the prosecution, which is entitled to respond to the written application already before the court.
He consequently adjourned the matter to January 2 for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that Malami, his son, and Hajia Bashir be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of their bail request.
Malami, who served as Attorney-General under former President Muhammadu Buhari, has been in the custody of the anti-graft agency since December 8, following his alleged failure to meet earlier bail conditions granted him by the EFCC.
According to the charge, the defendants are accused of conspiracy and concealment of proceeds of unlawful activities allegedly running into several billions of naira, said to have been committed between November 2015 and June 2025.
In the suit filed by the EFCC through Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, the commission alleged that the unlawfully acquired funds were used to purchase luxury properties in Abuja, Kebbi, Kano, and other locations.
In count one, Malami and his son were alleged to have, between July 2022 and June 2025, “procure METROPOLITAN AUTO TECH LIMITED to conceal the unlawful origin of the total sum of N1,014,848,500.00 in the Sterling Bank Plc Account No. 0079182387,” when they “reasonably ought to have known that the said sum formed proceeds of unlawful activities,” contrary to Section 21(c) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
In count two, the duo were similarly accused of procuring the same company to conceal the unlawful origin of another sum of over N600 million.
Another count alleged that in November 2022, the defendants used Rahamaniyya Properties Limited to conceal N500 million paid for a luxury duplex located on Amazon Street, Maitama, Abuja.
In count five, the trio were accused of conspiring in September 2024 to disguise the unlawful origin of the aggregate sum of N1,049,173,926.13 paid through the Union Bank Plc account of Meethaq Hotels Ltd, Jabi, between November 2022 and September 2024. In count six, they were alleged to have indirectly taken control of the sum of N1,362,887,872.96 paid through the same account, when they “reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed proceeds of unlawful activity,” contrary to Section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Act.
The defendants were also charged with concealing N700 million paid for a property at No. 3 Onitsha Crescent, Garki, Abuja, and N850 million for another property at Plot 683, Jabi District, Abuja.
Further allegations include the acquisition of No. 3 Rhine Street, Maitama, Abuja, for N430 million in February 2018, the concealment of N210 million for a property at No. 3130, Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro, Abuja, in the same month, N325 million for a property at No. 1241B, Asokoro District, between March and June 2021, and N120 million for No. 27 Efab Estate, Gwarimpa, Abuja, between November 2015 and January 2016.
