Another alleges he used N600,000,000 as collateral to secure a loan for Rayhaan Hotels Ltd, despite allegedly knowing the money was suspicious.
A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, was on Tuesday arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on 16-count charges bordering on alleged money laundering, illegal acquisition of properties and concealment of funds running into tens of billions of naira.
Malami appeared alongside his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, and an ally, Hajia Bashir Asabe.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when read before Justice Emeka Nwite.
The charges, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accuse the former chief law officer of Nigeria of abusing his office to funnel suspicious funds through private companies, property deals and bank transactions he “reasonably ought to have known” were proceeds of unlawful activities.
According to court filings obtained by SaharaReporters, the EFCC alleges that Malami used fronts and corporate entities — including Metropolitan Auto Tech Ltd and Meethaq Hotels Ltd — to launder public funds while in office.
One of the charges claims Malami and his son procured over N1,014,848,500 through Metropolitan Auto Tech Ltd between July 2022 and June 2025 to conceal the origin of funds in a Sterling Bank account.
Another alleges he used N600,000,000 as collateral to secure a loan for Rayhaan Hotels Ltd, despite allegedly knowing the money was suspicious.
Multiple counts accuse the defendants of using Properties company and Bureau De Change operators to disguise payments for high-end properties in Maitama, Jabi, Asokoro, Gwarimpa, and Kano, including: N500m luxury duplex, Amazon Street, Maitama; N700m property, Onitsha Crescent, Garki; N850m Meethaq Hotels, Jabi; N430m Rhine Street property, Maitama; N537m properties in Abuja, Kano and Birnin Kebbi.
Two of the properties were described as “Hamonia Hotels Ltd, Area 11 Garki” and Meethaq Hotels on Rhine Street in Maitama.
In documents tendered to the court as Proof of Evidence, the anti-graft agency listed witnesses including investigators, Bureau De Change operators and bankers.
The EFCC says its officials — Folarin Dare, Chinedu Eneanya and Sani Lukeman — will testify about how petitions and intelligence reports triggered the probe into “monumental corruption” allegedly linked to the former minister.
A witness, Hassan Aliyu, allegedly claims his company’s account was used for suspicious multimillion-naira transactions without his full knowledge.
Despite the weight of the accusations, Malami and his co-defendants insist they are innocent. They entered a not guilty plea, forcing the case into full trial.
The defence team, led by senior lawyers, is expected to challenge the admissibility of evidence and the legality of the EFCC’s investigation.
Malami served as Nigeria’s Attorney-General from 2015 to 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
His tenure was repeatedly marked by controversies, accusations of abuse of office, and questions over sudden wealth — claims he consistently denied.
According to the court documents seen by SaharaReporters, the alleged offences span nearly a decade, from 2015 to 2025, cutting across Malami’s tenure as Attorney-General of the Federation and beyond.
According to the charges, Malami and his son allegedly used Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal the unlawful origin of ₦1,014,848,500 lodged in Sterling Bank Plc account number 0079182387 between July 2022 and June 2025. Prosecutors said the defendants ought to have known that the funds were proceeds of illegal activities.
The government further alleged that between September 2020 and February 2021, while Malami was serving as Attorney-General, the defendants similarly concealed ₦600,013,460.40 through the same Sterling Bank account using Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited.
In another count, Malami and his son were accused of retaining ₦600 million as cash collateral through Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited in March 2021 to secure a ₦500 million loan granted by Sterling Bank to Rayhaan Hotels Limited, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were of unlawful origin.
The charges also allege that in November 2022, Malami, his son, and Hajia Bashir Asabe disguised the source of ₦500 million paid to Efab Properties Limited for the purchase of a luxury duplex located at Amazon Street, Plot 3011, Cadastral Zone A06, Maitama, Abuja.
Between November 2022 and September 2024, the defendants were accused of conspiring to conceal the origin of ₦1,049,173,926.13 paid through Meethaq Hotels Limited’s Union Bank Plc savings account number 0179011105.
Prosecutors further alleged that between November 2022 and October 2025, Malami and his son indirectly took control of an additional ₦1,362,887,872.96 through the same Meethaq Hotels account, knowing the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities.
The charge sheet also details several property acquisitions allegedly funded with illicit proceeds.
These include ₦700 million paid between November and December 2018 for the purchase of No. 3 Onitsha Crescent, Area 11, Garki, Abuja; ₦850 million paid between September and December 2020 for Plot 683, Jabi District, Cadastral Zone B04; and ₦430 million paid in February 2018 for No. 3 Rhine Street, Maitama, Abuja.
Prosecutors further alleged that Malami and his associate concealed the origin of ₦210 million paid in February 2018 for a property at No. 3130, Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, Abuja.
Between March and June 2021, Malami was accused of disguising ₦325 million used to acquire property at No. 1241B Asokoro District, also known as No. 11A Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro. Another charge alleges that between November 2015 and January 2016, ₦120 million was concealed and used to purchase a property at No. 27 Efab Estate, 5th Avenue, 59th Crescent, Gwarimpa, Abuja.
The government further alleged that in November 2022, Malami, his son, and Hajia Bashir Asabe conspired to conceal the unlawful origin of funds used to acquire the luxury duplex at Amazon Street, Maitama.
Additionally, prosecutors accused Malami, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and others still at large of conspiring between December 2016 and April 2022 to indirectly acquire multiple landed properties for Malami using proceeds of unlawful activities.
The charge sheet also lists ₦537 million allegedly concealed between June 2022 and January 2023 and used to purchase properties located at No. 26 Babbi Street, BUA Estate, Abuja; a four-bedroom bungalow at Guesse 2, Birnin Kebbi; and No. 4 Ahmadu Bello Way, Nassarawa GRA, Kano.
Finally, Malami was accused of concealing ₦415 million between October 2018 and December 2021 to acquire multiple properties, including No. 28 Bagudu Kaltio Crescent, Gwarimpa, Abuja; Plot 13, Ipent 7 Estate, Abuja; a plaza and related commercial facilities near Birnin Kebbi Market; 100 hectares of land along Birnin Kebbi–Jeba Road; and Plot 157 Lamido Crescent, Nassarawa Road GRA, Kano.
All the alleged acts are said to violate provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.