A bank official has told a court in Abuja how millions of naira from local government funds were moved into private accounts in a “structured” manner to avoid triggering anti-money laundering alarms.
The testimony came during the resumed trial of the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, who is facing a 19-count charge of money laundering totalling more than N80bn (£40m; $50m).
The witness, Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, told the Federal High Court on Friday that multiple cash deposits were deliberately kept below the N10m reporting threshold to “evade” detection by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
‘Evading the threshold’
Under Nigerian law, banks must report any single transaction above N10m for corporate accounts. However, Mr Egoro testified that in early 2020, one account saw 21 separate cash deposits made within a short period—all of which were carefully kept just under the limit.
“The transactions were structured to evade the reporting threshold,” the witness told the court.
Local government funds diverted
The prosecution, led by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), presented evidence of what they called a systematic siphoning of local government resources.
According to the witness:
- Hayzma Business Enterprise: Received over N813m from several Kogi local governments in August 2020 alone.
- Rapid Withdrawals: One individual, Yakubu Siyaka, allegedly withdrew N546m in cash from that account in just 12 days.
- Keyless Nature Limited: This company account allegedly received multiple inflows from local governments before immediately transferring the funds to other banks.
A billion-naira loan
The court also heard details of a N2.1bn loan disbursed by Access Bank to a private company, Keyless Nature Limited, in December 2021. The witness testified that shortly after the loan was taken, multiple local governments began making credit inflows into the company’s account to service the debt or cover withdrawals.
Defence lawyers attempted to object to the bank official’s interpretations, but Justice Emeka Nwite overruled them, stating the witness was a professional “shedding light” on complex financial records.
Analysis: The ‘local’ tap
By Segun Ojumu, Abuja
This trial is being watched closely because it pulls back the curtain on how state governors in Nigeria often treat local government allocations as a private “slush fund.”
The evidence provided today suggests a sophisticated operation designed to bypass the very digital safeguards meant to stop corruption. By using private companies and keeping individual deposits small, the alleged conspirators were able to move billions under the radar of federal regulators for years. The sheer volume of cash withdrawals—hundreds of millions in a few days—highlights why Nigeria remains a high-risk environment for financial crime.
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