Mohammed Bello Adoke
By Our Reporter
Facts are emerging on how former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) gave the sum of $2.267m to the former acting Managing Director of Unity Bank, Mr Rislanudeed Muhammed,
The former Unity Bank boss on Thursday said the $2.267m he received from Adoke was for a repayment of loan of N300m..
Muhammed who is currently with the Bank of Industry, said this as the second prosecution witness in the 14 amended counts of money laundering instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against Adoke and his co-defendant, Aliyu Abubakar.
Mohammed, a prosecution witness told a Federal High Court in Abuja that $2.2 million was not a kickback as alleged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but a repayment of the loan granted Adoke by the bank.
Adoke and an oil magnate, Aliyu Abubakar, are standing trial on a 14-count amended criminal charge bordering on alleged money laundering and corruption preferred against them by the anti graft commission.
Mohammed, a second witness of the EFCC, in his evidence told the court how Adoke obtained a loan of N300 million from the bank and the efforts he made to ensure Adoke repaid the loan.
He said that the loan was finally liquidated when Adoke handed over to him a sum of $2.2 million and that when converted to naira, it exceeded the principal loan amount.
The EFCC witness further disclosed that the former AGF collected the balance and closed the account after the bank deducted all necessary interest regarding the transaction.
Under cross-examination by Kanu Agabi, Adoke’s lawyer, the witness admitted accepting $2.2 million on behalf of the bank to liquidate the loan.
He further stated that the $2.2 million was not a proceed of crime because it was in repayment of a loan Adoke obtained from the bank.
“I received the money as an agent of the bank. The money is not available to be confiscated because it is not a proceed of crime. I have no reason to believe it is a proceed of crime. The money is not in Adoke’s account because it belongs to the bank,” he said.
The witness further told the court that collecting the money from Adoke’s house did not in any way constitute an offence because he acted as an agent of the bank.
Testifying further, the witness said upon the full payment of the loan, the title deed used as security by the bank was released by the bank to the second defendant as an indication that the loan has been fully defrayed.
