The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted bail to the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, who is facing a money laundering charge alongside his son and wife.
The defendants were alleged to have laundered public funds totalling about N9 billion.
The court, in a ruling delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, granted them bail in the sum of N200 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
It will be recalled that the court had, on February 27, remanded the former AGF, his son Abdulaziz, and one of his wives, Hajia Bashir Asabe, in prison custody after they were re-arraigned on a 16-count charge filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The remand order followed Justice Abdulmalik’s refusal to adopt the earlier bail conditions granted to the defendants on January 7.
Defence counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN, after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, drew the court’s attention to the bail conditions earlier granted by Justice Emeka Nwite, who initially presided over the case as a vacation judge.
However, counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, confirmed that the defendants had earlier perfected the bail conditions but argued that their re-arraignment gave the court the discretion to decide whether they should continue to enjoy the bail previously granted.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Abdulmalik ruled that the case had commenced de novo (afresh) before her, noting that proceedings conducted before Justice Nwite had legally terminated.
She subsequently directed the defendants to file a fresh bail application, which the court granted on Friday.
As part of the bail conditions, the court ordered that one of the sureties must provide title documents of a property located in either Maitama or Asokoro districts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
