The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday re-arraigned former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside his wife, Asabe Bashir, and their son, Abdulaziz, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged money laundering offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defendants appeared before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik following the reassignment of the case after two previous judges withdrew from handling the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the commencement of proceedings, EFCC counsel, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), informed the court that the case was coming before the new judge for the first time and requested that the pleas of the defendants be taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecution also sought the court\u2019s permission to amend portions of the charge, correcting figures earlier listed as N325 billion and N120 billion to N325 million and N120 million respectively in Counts 11 and 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), raised no objection to the application, prompting Justice Abdulmalik to grant leave for the amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the reading of the amended 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering, Malami, his wife and their son pleaded not guilty to all counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trial has experienced a series of judicial reassignments since it commenced. Justice Emeka Nwite initially handled the matter as vacation judge during the Christmas and New Year period. After the legal vacation, the case was reassigned to Justice Obiora Egwuatu, who later recused himself on February 12, leading to its transfer to Justice Abdulmalik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malami and his son were first arraigned on December 30, 2025, under charge number FHC\/ABJ\/CR\/700\/2025. They were remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, while Asabe Bashir was held at the Suleja Correctional Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All three defendants were subsequently granted bail on January 7 in the sum of N500 million each, with two sureties in like sum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proceedings are expected to continue before Justice Abdulmalik as the prosecution moves to open its case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday re-arraigned former Attorney-General of the Federation,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n