Ayinde Kareem/

Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has reserved ruling on the admissibility of prosecution’s evidence till November 30 in the trial of former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Andrew Yakubu.

Yakubu was arraigned in 2017 before Justice Mohammed on a six-count charge of failure to make full disclosure of assets, money laundering and intent to avoid a lawful transaction under law, having unlawfully transported at various times to Kaduna an aggregate sum of $9,772,800 and £74,000.

Appearing as a defence witness on November 5, the defendant under cross-examination by the prosecution counsel, M.S. Abubakar, Yakubu denied knowledge of 10 bundles of 100 pieces of fresh $100 bills, sealed in transparent cellophane and 30 pieces of such sealed bills of 10 bundles of $100 bills, allegedly found in his custody.

He, however, agreed that sums of $9,772,800 and £74,000 found in his custody which form counts three and four belong to him, stating that a larger portion of the sums were in $100 bills, and were gifts he received while out of office.

He stated: “Most of the gifts I received after I left office were from colleagues and friends, were not more than $100 in tranches of $10,000 dollars. The gifts I received were not more than $10, 000 in the bundle; some were fresh mints while others were not.”

In an affidavit he deposed to in the Supreme Court, Yakubu affirmed that the sums, which are exhibits in his trial were deposited with the  Kano branch of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

While prosecution counsel sought the court’s admission of the affidavit by virtue of the provisions of sections 85, 86 (i) and 88 of the Evidence Act, defence counsel Ahmed Raji, SAN, objected, arguing that it was not certified and ought to be, being a public document.

Justice Mohammed adjourned till November 30, 2020, for ruling on the admissibility of the affidavit. It could be recalled that in May 2019, the trial court struck out counts five and six of the six-count charge, following a “no case submission,” filed by the defendant, and upon the defendant’s appeal, the Appeal Court further struck out counts one and two but ordered him to enter his defence on count three and four which had to do with his failure to go through a financial institution in possessing $9,772,800 and £74,000 found in his custody.

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