Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Friday, February 27, 2026, ordered the remand of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and their son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, in correctional facilities pending the determination of their fresh bail applications.
Malami and his son, who are the first and third defendants respectively, were remanded in the Kuje Correctional Centre, while Asabe, the second defendant, was ordered to be held at the Suleja Medium Correctional Centre.
The defendants were re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following the reassignment of the case from Emeka Nwite to Justice Abdulmalik.
The trio is facing an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to N8,713,923,759.49, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
At the commencement of proceedings, prosecution counsel, Chief J.S. Okutepa, SAN, informed the court that the matter was appearing before Justice Abdulmalik for the first time and sought leave to read the amended charges to the defendants. He drew attention to corrections in Counts 11 and 12, where the numeric figures were adjusted to tally with the amounts earlier stated in words.
Defence counsel, J.B. Daudu, SAN, raised no objection to the amendments but urged the prosecution to formally apply for them. The court subsequently granted the request, allowing the correction of the numeric values in the affected counts.
Count one alleges that Malami and his son, between July 2022 and June 2025 in Abuja, procured Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal the unlawful origin of N1,014,848,500.00 in a Sterling Bank Plc account, which they reasonably ought to have known constituted proceeds of unlawful activities, contrary to Section 21(c) of the Act and punishable under Section 18(3).
Count five alleges that Malami, his son, and Asabe, an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited, conspired in September 2024 in Abuja to disguise the unlawful origin of N1,049,173,926.13 paid through the Union Bank Plc account of Meethaq Hotels Limited, Jabi, between November 2022 and September 2024, contrary to Section 21 and punishable under Sections 18(2)(a) and 18(3) of the Act.
Count six further alleges that Malami and his son, between November 2022 and October 2025, indirectly took control of N1,362,887,872.96 paid through the Union Bank Plc savings account of Meethaq Hotels Limited, knowing or reasonably expected to know that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, contrary to Section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Act.
All three defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the 16-count charge. Following their plea, the prosecution sought a trial date and requested that the defendants be remanded in custody.
In response, the defence counsel informed the court that the defendants had earlier been granted bail by Justice Nwite when they were first arraigned and that the bail conditions had been perfected. He urged the court to allow the existing bail to subsist, arguing that the Federal High Court is one and that the defendants had not violated any of the conditions.
However, the prosecution conceded that while the defendants had previously been admitted to bail, the court retained the discretion to either adopt the earlier terms or impose fresh conditions to guarantee their attendance.
In her ruling, Justice Abdulmalik held that the earlier bail had been terminated by virtue of the reassignment of the case and directed that fresh bail applications be filed before her court. An oral bail application made by the defence was rejected, with the judge insisting on a formal application in view of the weight of the allegations.
The court also directed the prosecution to grant the defence team access to the defendants to enable them prepare adequately for trial. The matter was adjourned till March 6, 2026, for hearing of the bail applications and commencement of trial.
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