A compliance officer at United Bank for Africa (UBA) and witness, Williams Abimbola, has revealed to the Federal High Court in Abuja how Bauchi State Accountant-General, Sirajo Muhammed Jaja, transferred millions of naira from the State’s sub-treasury account to a private company linked to one of the defendants in a corruption trial.
TheNewsGuru reports that the witness testified during the trial of Jaja alongside Aliyu Abubakar, Abubakar Muhammed Hafiz, Ari Manga and Muhammed Aminu Bose over alleged money laundering, diversion of public funds and criminal misappropriation involving N1.635 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the defendants on an amended five-count charge, and during Monday’s proceedings, EFCC counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, called Abimbola as the first prosecution witness.
Abimbola told the court that, as a compliance officer, she answered questions from law enforcement and handled other tasks assigned by the bank’s Chief Compliance Officer.
The EFCC presented the Bauchi State account statement and a written statement from the bank as evidence.
While answering questions from Iheanacho, the witness described several transfers from the Bauchi State Sub-Treasury Account to JASFAD Resources Enterprises, a company said to be managed by the first defendant, Aliyu Abubakar.
She said three transfers were made from the Bauchi State Sub-Treasury Account to JASFAD Resources Enterprises on October 29, 2024.
She listed the transfers as N13.14 million, N17.16 million, and N46.03 million.
The witness further told the court that N17.88 million was transferred to the company on November 7, 2024.
She said two additional transfers of N12.21 million and N16.91 million were made on November 15.
She said that on November 19, another N90.37 million was moved from the state sub-treasury account. Four days later, on November 22, N140.08 million was sent to JASFAD Resources Enterprises, according to the witness.
She also testified that the company got two transfers, N24.19 million and N48.89 million, on December 24, 2024.
She said the transactions continued on December 27, when N335.04 million and N300 million were transferred to the account.
Abimbola told the court that more transfers were made on December 31, including N14.28 million and N26.97 million.
She also described several transactions between February and March 2025.
According to her, she sent N19.84 million and N13.02 million to JASFAD Resources Enterprises on February 25, 2025.
She said she sent N16.10 million on March 3, then N56.64 million on March 5, and N45.92 million on March 7.
The witness also pointed out an N11.25 million transfer on March 10. Two more transfers, N49.28 million and N30.72 million, were made on March 12. She said another N28.26 million was sent to the company on March 14.
The witness repeated that the transactions were done on the orders of the Bauchi State Sub-Treasury Account.
The EFCC alleges that the defendants, who were signatories to the Bauchi State sub-treasury accounts, transferred public funds from the accounts to JASFAD Resources Enterprises.
The prosecution alleges that the transactions formed part of a scheme to divert and criminally misappropriate N1.635 billion belonging to Bauchi State.
Following the completion of the prosecution’s examination of the witness, lawyers representing the defendants requested another date to cross-examine her.
Justice Egwuatu subsequently adjourned the case until October 22, 2026, for cross-examination of the witness and continuation of the trial.