Court Revokes Malami’s Bail, Orders Remand

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday revoked the earlier bail granted to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and ordered his remand in a correctional facility after ruling that his case must begin afresh due to its reassignment to a new judge.

The decision followed arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on whether the previous bail conditions should still apply.

The court held that since the matter was reassigned and restarted, all earlier proceedings, including the bail earlier granted by another judge, had ended in law. As a result, the defendants were required to file a fresh bail application before the new court.

Malami is facing a 16-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged money laundering and unlawful acquisition of assets said to be worth more than N8.7 billion. The charges also involve his son, Abdulaziz, and his wife, Asabe.

At the resumed hearing, the prosecution team informed the court of its readiness to proceed and asked that the amended charges be read to the defendants. Malami, his son and his wife each pleaded not guilty to all counts. After the pleas were taken, the prosecution requested that the court fix a date for trial.

The defence team urged the court to allow the earlier bail conditions to remain, arguing that the Federal High Court operates as one institution and that the defendants had already been admitted to bail.

The prosecution responded that although bail had been granted before, the new judge had the authority to either retain those conditions or impose new ones to ensure the defendants appear for trial.

The court noted that no formal bail application had been filed before it. When the defence sought to make an oral request for bail, the judge declined and directed them to submit a proper application and serve it on the prosecution.

The court said a short date would then be given to hear the bail request.
During proceedings, the defence informed the court that fixing a trial date might be difficult because the first and second defendants were reportedly in the custody of the Department of State Services and could not be reached.

The court responded that it would not speculate on the status of any party and stated that it was the responsibility of the prosecution to ensure the defendants are available.

The prosecution maintained that the defendants were not in its custody and that it could not compel the DSS to produce them.

The judge adjourned the case until March 6 for the hearing of the bail application and the possible start of trial.

She ordered that Malami and his son be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, while his wife was to be held at the Suleja Correctional Centre pending further proceedings.