A Federal High Court in Abuja heard on Monday that the name of a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello was not reflected in documents relating to the N550 million property bought in Maitama, Abuja in the name of Shehu Bello.

A prosecution witness, Olusegun Adeleke, who identified himself as the General Manager of EFAB Properties Limited, said this while testifying at the resumed hearing in the alleged N80.2 million money laundering case against Bello.

Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), Adeleke told the court how the Chairman of EFAB Properties Limited, Fabian Nwora involved him in the transactions by Shehu Bello on the purchase of the property located at No 1, Ikogosi Street in Maitama, Abuja.

Adeleke said sometime in 2020, his chairman, Chief Fabian Nwora, introduced him to a young man called Shehu Bello and that they discussed the purchase of the property.

He added: “We had a discussion concerning the purchase of the property in question and he told me that the young man would be coming back to make payment for the property at an agreed price of N550m.”

On whether he saw the said Shehu Bello again after their first meeting, the witness said he saw him three times.

He added: “The first time was for introduction, the second time for payment and the third time was when he brought a legal document for the execution of the EFAB property.”

Pinheiro then asked the witness to explain what he knew about another property at 5th Avenue in Gwarinpa, Abuja.

The witness said the property was purchased by one Nuhu Mohammed for N70m and was paid for through a bank transfer.

Adeleke denied knowledge of the bank from which the money was transferred to his company.

The witness said upon the conclusion of the transactions, Sheu Bello made payment for the property subsequent upon which a receipt and letter of allocation were delivered to him.

Adeleke said Sheu Bello changed the transactions when he came back for a refund of his money upon discovering that the house was the subject of an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN) the witness said he had transactions with Sheu Bello three times.

The witness said throughout the transactions, he did not see Yahaya Bello and his name also did not feature in any of the documents on the transactions including the title deed.

Adeleke said he did not see Sheu Bello who purchased the property in court.

He said his actions about the transactions were purely based on the instructions of his Chairman.

The witness said he did not initiate any discussion with Shehu Bello on his own, adding that he said Shehu Bello did not sign the documents relating to the transactions.

Adeleke said he did not set his eyes on the defendants in the course of the transactions he had with Shehu Bello.

He said the defendant’s name did not appear anywhere on the property documents, which he said were with the EFCC.

After Adeleke’s testimony, Pinheiro called another witness, Abimbola Williams, a compliance officer with the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), who was subpoenaed to produce some documents.

While in the witness box, Williams read out the documents she was requested to produce, which include the statement of account of Kogi State Government House, from January 1, 2016, to January 31, 2024.

The statement of account of Maselina Njoku, from January 1 to December 31, 2022, was also admitted in evidence, including the account opening packages of American International School and statements of accounts, from September 1 to September 30, 2020.

Further hearing in the case has been adjourned till March 6 and 7.