N110 billion fraud: Yahaya Bello pleads not guilty to 16-count charge.
Former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a 16-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Bello, alongside co-defendants Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, was arraigned before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama.
The charges, marked CR/7781, include conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and possession of unlawfully acquired property.
The EFCC alleges that Bello misappropriated state funds to acquire multiple properties, including: No. 35 Danube Street, Maitama District, Abuja (N950 million), No. 1160 Cadastral Zone C03, Gwarimpa II District, Abuja (N100 million), and No. 2 Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Street, Asokoro, Abuja (N920 million).
Other properties the defendants allegedly acquired with funds stolen from the Kogi state treasury, included Block D Manzini Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N170 million), Hotel Apartment Community: Burj Khalifa, Dubai (Five Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Dirhams), Block 18, Gwelo Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N60 million), and No. 9 Benghazi Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N310.4 million).
More so, the defendants were accused of transferring $570,330 and $556,265 to TD Bank, USA, and possessing unlawfully obtained property, including N677.8 million from Bespoque Business Solution Limited.
