EFCC arraigns Malami, son, employee for money laundering

The money laundering charges preferred against Mr Malami, his son and another co-defendant, included making efforts to conceal illicit origins of multi-billion naira worth of assets in Abuja, Kano and Kebbi.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami on money laundering charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The EFCC arraigned him on Tuesday alongside his son, Abubakar Malami, and Asabe Bashir, an employee of a firm linked to the former minister, Rahamaniyya Properties Ltd.

They pleaded not guilty to all 16 counts that accused them of money laundering and illegitimate accumulation of wealth.

The charges included suspicious accumulation and frantic efforts to conceal the alleged illicit origins of multi-billion naira worth of assets in Abuja, Kano and Kebbi.

EFCC alleged in the charges that the defendants carried out various suspicious transactions and attempted to conceal the unlawful origins of billions of naira through bank accounts and property acquisitions across Abuja, Kano and Kebbi.

EFCC said many of the offences violated the Money Laundering (Prohibition and Prevention) Acts of 2011 (as amended) and 2022.

They allegedly committed the offences between 2015 and 2025, a period that includes the eight years Mr Malami served as the AGF during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Mr Malami, who has been detained by the EFCC since 8 December, has made unsuccessful efforts to secure pre-trial bail and release from custody until Tuesday’s arraignment.

On 23 December, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja granted him bail in the same conditions earlier set by the EFCC.

But both the EFCC and Mr Malami disagreed over what the conditions were. Mr Malami maintained that he already met the bail conditions before the bail was revoked. But the EFCC denied ever revoking the bail and maintained that the former minister had yet to fulfil the bail conditions to be released from pre-trial detention.

More details later…