By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– The immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, will remain in prison custody till Wednesday when his request for bail will be considered by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Malami, who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, faces a 16-count money laundering charge.
He was arraigned before the court last Tuesday alongside his son, Abdulaziz, and Hajia Bashir Asabe, an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited—a firm allegedly used to conceal proceeds of unlawful activity through property deals.
The defendants were alleged to have laundered public funds totalling about N9 billion.
According to the anti-graft agency, the former Justice Minister, in a bid to hide his proceeds of crime, resorted to acquiring choice properties in various cities and states, including Abuja, Kebbi, and Kano.
EFCC told the court that the defendants had between July 2022 and June 2025, used a firm — Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited — to conceal over N1.01bn in a Sterling Bank account.
They were further accused of using the same company to siphon about N600million between September 2020 and February 2021.
Likewise, EFCC told the court that the defendants had retained N600m in March 2021 as cash collateral for a N500m loan that the firm—Rayhaan Hotels Ltd—obtained from Sterling Bank, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime.
The defendants were said to have acted in breach of several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Among those billed to testify against them were investigators, bank officials, real estate agents, as well as Bureau de Change operators.
The court, upon the defendants’ plea of innocence, had remanded them in prison custody pending the determination of their bail applications.
At the resumed proceedings on Friday, counsel to the defendants, Mr. J. B. Daudu, SAN, prayed the court to release his clients from custody, contending that the allegations against them were bailable.
He assured the court of the defendants’ readiness to stand trial in order to clear their names.
However, the EFCC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, urged the court to deny the defendants bail.
Aside from the defendants posing a flight risk, the anti-graft agency alleged that the former minister has the capacity to influence some of the witnesses who are scheduled to testify against him.
After he had listened to both sides, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until Wednesday for ruling.
It will be recalled that Malami was detained by the EFCC on December 8, 2025, after honoring an invitation extended to him by the agency.
He later accused the agency of arbitrarily revoking an administrative bail it earlier granted to him.
The embattled former AGF insisted that the revocation came after he attended a political rally in his home state, Kebbi, a development he described as a pointer to the fact that his trial was politically motivated.
Meanwhile, some of the counts in the charge against the defendants, read: “That you Abubakar Malami SAN, and Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami between July 2022 and June, 2025 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did procure Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal the unlawful origin of the total sum of N1, 014, 848, 500.00 (One Billion, Fourteen Million, Eight Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) in the Sterling Bank Plc Account No. 0079182387 when you reasonably ought to have known that the said sum formed proceeds of unlawful activities and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21(c) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
“That you Abubakar Malami SAN whilst being the Attorney-General of the Federation, and Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami between September 2020 and February, 2021in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did procure Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal the unlawful origin of the total sum of N600,013,460.4 in the Sterling Bank Plc Account No. 0079182387 when you reasonably ought to have known that the said sum formed proceeds of unlawful activitiesand you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012) and punishable under section 15(3) of the same Act.
“That you Abubakar Malami SAN whilst being the Attorney-General of the Federation and Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami sometime in March, 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did retain the total sum of N600,000,000.00 in Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited as cash collateral for a loan of N500,000,000.00 granted to RAYHAAN HOTELS LTD by Sterling Bank Plc when you reasonably ought to have known that the said cash collateral of N600,000,000.00 was proceed of unlawful activities and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amendedpunishable under section 15(3) of the same Act
“That you Abubakar Malami SAN whilst being the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, and Hajia Bashir Asabe an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited sometime in November, 2022 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did indirectly disguise the unlawful origin of the aggregate sum of N500,000,000.00 paid to Efab Properties Ltd paid for purchase of property known as luxury duplex at Amazon street, Plot No. 3011 within Cadastral Zone A06 Maitama District, Abuja in favour of Abubakar Malami SAN when you reasonably ought to have known that the said N500million formed proceed of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(2) (a) and punishable under section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
“That you Abubakar Malami SAN whilst being the Attorney-General of the Federation, between October 2018 and December, 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court indirectly concealed the aggregate sum N415,000,000.00 which you paid for the purchase of the properties namely (i) No. 28 Bagudu Kaltio crescent Gwarimpa, Abuja (ii) Plot 13, Ipent 7 Estate Abuja and (iii) A Plaza, Commercial Toilets, Laundry and Warehouse Tanks Adjacent to Brinin Kebbi Market (iv) 100 hectares of land Along Brinin Kebbi, Jeba Road (v) Plot 157 Lamido Crescent, Nassarawa Road GRA, Kano knowing that the said sum of N415,000,000.00 formed proceeds of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2) (a) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended.”
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