Court remands Malami, wife, son in N8.7bn money laundering case

Joyce Abdulmalik , Justice of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Friday ordered the remand of Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, alongside his wife, Bashir Asabe, and their son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, in correctional facilities pending the hearing of fresh bail applications.

Malami and his son were remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, while Asabe was ordered to be held at the Suleja Medium Correctional Centre.

The trio were re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering alleged proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to N8,713,923,759.49.

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The re-arraignment followed the reassignment of the case from Emeka Nwite (Justice) to Abdulmalik.

At the commencement of proceedings, prosecution counsel, J.S. Okutepa,
, informed the court that the matter was appearing before Abdulmalik for the first time and sought leave to read the amended charges to the defendants.

He drew attention to corrections made in Counts 11 and 12, explaining that the numerical figures were adjusted to tally with the amounts already written in words.

Defence counsel, J.B. Daudu, did not oppose the amendment but urged the prosecution to formally apply for it. The court subsequently granted the request, allowing the correction of the affected counts.

According to the EFCC, the defendants allegedly engaged in multiple transactions between July 2022 and October 2025 aimed at concealing funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, in violation of provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In one of the counts, Malami and his son were accused of procuring Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal N1,014,848,500 in a Sterling Bank Plc account between July 2022 and June 2025.

Another count alleged that the three defendants conspired in September 2024 to disguise the unlawful origin of N1,049,173,926.13 paid through the Union Bank Plc account of Meethaq Hotels Limited, Jabi, between November 2022 and September 2024.

The prosecution further alleged that Malami and his son indirectly took control of N1,362,887,872.96 paid through the Union Bank savings account of Meethaq Hotels Limited between November 2022 and October 2025.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the 16-count charge.

Following their plea, prosecution counsel urged the court to fix a trial date and remand the defendants in custody.

However, defence counsel argued that the defendants had earlier been granted bail by Emeka Nwite when they were first arraigned and that the conditions had been perfected.

He maintained that since the Federal High Court is one, the existing bail terms should subsist.

While the prosecution acknowledged that the defendants had previously been admitted to bail and agreed that the Federal High Court is one, it contended that the court retained discretion to either adopt the earlier bail conditions or require fresh ones to guarantee their attendance.

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In her ruling, Abdulmalik held that the previous bail had been terminated by the reassignment of the case and directed the defendants to file fresh bail applications before her court.

She rejected an oral bail application made by the defence, insisting on a formal application, particularly in view of the gravity of the allegations.

The judge also directed the prosecution to grant defence counsel access to the defendants to enable adequate preparation for trial.

The matter was adjourned to March 6, 2026, for the hearing of bail applications and the possible commencement of trial.