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An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, Lamalan Jibrin, on Friday told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court that he had no business dealings on any property with the former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.
Jibrin, who is the 15th prosecution witness in the trial of Bello and co-defendants for alleged N110 billion fraud, is a lawyer with the Federal Capital development Authority (FCDA).
The EFCC arraigned Bello alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalam Hudu on a 16-count charge of breach of trust.
The commission alleged that the defendants committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the sum of N110,446,470,089, among others.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The witness was cross-examined by Bello’s counsel, Abdullahi Yahaya (SAN).
He also told the court that he never got instructions from any of the three defendants.
READ ALSO: EFCC clarifies Yahaya Bello innocent until court verdict
The witness admitted that he had earlier testified as the fifth prosecution witness at the Federal High Court in the suit matter, “FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022” before Justice James Omotosho, where he denied any dealings with the former governor.
He agreed that throughout the course of the transaction he never met any of the three defendants present in court.
The witness said he received instruction to be part of the transaction regarding the property, located at No. 35, Danube Street, Maitama, through one Shehu Bala.
Jibrin also admitted that he was not present when the payment for the property was made, saying one Yakubu Haruna was the one who told him what was paid.
“So, because you were not there, you wouldn’t know in what currency the payment was made,” Yahaya (Bello ‘s counsel) asked .
“Yes, I was told,” the witness responded.
Yahaya asked further that everything he knew about the currency was what he was told.
“Yes,” the witness responded.
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