Bauchi gov’s son concealed assets in money laundering case, says witness

A fourth witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abeimense Ihcyeon, has told Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja that Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed concealed money and property traced to him during investigations.

Shamsudeen is son of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and incumbent Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed.

At resumed sitting yesterday, EFCC’s counsel, Wahab Shittu, tendered the statement of the witness against Shamsudeen as part of his trial in a 15-count charge bordering on money laundering and false declaration of assets.

The witness, who is also an official of the EFCC and investigating officer in the matter, had in a statement dated May 17, 2017, revealed that Shamsudeen while under interrogation, concealed some of his assets and failed to fully disclose them in his assets declaration form.

The statement, which was identified by the witness, was thereafter admitted in evidence against Shamsudeen in court as Exhibit SB24.

Under cross-examination by Chris Uche SAN, the witness also revealed how intelligence report alleged that Shamsudeen was involved in shady activities, investigation of which had necessitated the need for him to declare his assets.

“My lord, sometime in 2015, the EFCC received intelligence report on the defendant, the report led to investigations in which we went to his address to carry out a search.

“During the search, various sophisticated electronic gadgets including laptops, phones, $50,000 and N585,000 cash were discovered at his residence.

“My team lead, Mr. Dauda who had earlier testified in court, had requested that the defendant complete an EFCC Asset Declaration Form A in which the defendant failed to disclose choice plots of land, cash domiciled in Standard Chartered Bank in Dollars, Pounds and Euro within and out of the country.

“We wrote to the banks requesting the account opening packages, mandate and linked four other companies–Bird Trust Argo Limited, Intertrans Global Logistics Limited, Diakin Telecommunications Limited and Bal-Vac Mining Nigeria Limited to the defendant,” she said.

After listening to the witness and sighting the exhibits, Justice Dimgba adjourned further hearing to January 29 and 30, 2020.