November 27, (THEWILL) – The immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, on Wednesday, maintained his innocence to the allegation of fraud preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Bello alongside two other defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, is facing a 16-count charge of money laundering offences amounting to N110,446,470,89.00.
He had gone underground since a failed attempt by the EFCC to arrest him at his residence in Abuja in April.
Before he surrendered and his subsequent detention on Tuesday, THEWILL had exclusively reported last Wednesday that the former governor had scheduled to meet with investigators at the Abuja headquarters of the anti-graft agency having exhausted all legal strategies to evade arrest and prosecution.
In the suit marked CR/7781, the EFCC is arraigning Bello on charges bordering on conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and possession of unlawfully obtained property.
Specifically, the EFCC alleged that the former governor misused state funds to acquire properties, including No. 35 Danube Street, Maitama District, Abuja (N950 million), No. 1160 Cadastral Zone C03, Gwarimpa II District, Abuja (N100 million), and No. 2 Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Street, Asokoro, Abuja (N920 million).
Other properties the defendants allegedly acquired with funds stolen from the Kogi State treasury, included Block D Manzini Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N170 million), Hotel Apartment Community: Burj Khalifa, Dubai (Five Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Dirhams), Block 18, Gwelo Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N60 million), and No. 9 Benghazi Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N310.4 million).
He is also accused of transferring $570,330 and $556,265 to TD Bank, USA, and possessing unlawfully obtained property, including N677.8 million from Bespoque Business Solution Limited.
The charges are part of an ongoing probe into what the anti-graft agency describes as large-scale financial mismanagement in Kogi State under Bello’s administration.
Taking his plea before Justice Maryan Anenih at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja on Wednesday, Bello dressed in white caftan and blue cap, pleaded not guilty to all the allegations.
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