The Federal High Court in Abuja has reassigned the N10 billion money laundering case involving Ali Bello, nephew of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, after Justice James Omotosho recused himself from the proceedings over alleged tampering with evidence.
Justice Omotosho withdrew from the case on Thursday, saying the unresolved issue surrounding the alleged alteration of a key exhibit could create perceptions of bias in his eventual decision.
The judge had earlier ordered the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force to investigate the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, and the second defendant, Dauda Sulaiman, over alleged tampering with Exhibits N and O.
The security agencies were yet to submit their investigation report, about seven months after the matter was raised.
The alleged tampering came to light after Zubairu reportedly told the court that Sulaiman approached him and asked him to delete WhatsApp messages contained in an exhibit already admitted in evidence, allegedly offering him a house in return.
An EFCC investigator, Muhammed Audu Abubakar, subsequently confirmed that several WhatsApp messages contained in the exhibits had been deleted.
The messages, dating from 2020 to 2022, allegedly contained references to various sums of money, including N100 million, N60 million, N30 million, N50 million and N93 million.
The development occurred as the defendants were due to adopt their no-case submissions after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission closed its case with 17 witnesses.
The EFCC had alleged that Ali Bello and Sulaiman fraudulently withdrew N10.27 billion from the Kogi State treasury and transferred it to a Bureau de Change operator, Rabiu Tafada, in Abuja for safekeeping or conversion into foreign currencies for personal gain.
Justice Omotosho ordered that the case file be returned to the Chief Judge for reassignment, saying the step was necessary in the interest of justice.
