The trial of embattled former Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, resumed on Thursday, March 13, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, with a prosecution witness revealing that a probe uncovered over ₦200 million in Kyari’s accounts, exceeding his official earnings.
The witness, a Chief Investigator with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmed Yero, told the court that the money was traced through Kyari’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) linked to 12 accounts, 10 of which were active.
Yero, testifying as the ninth prosecution witness (PW-9), said his team was assigned on February 14, 2022, to investigate the defendant’s financial activities under the NDLEA’s Directorate of Assets & Financial Investigation.
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According to Yero, Kyari initially declared only three bank accounts, but forensic analysis of his BVN records, obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed he owned and operated 10 active bank accounts, including domiciliary accounts in Dollars, Euros, and Pounds Sterling.
“One of the accounts is a salary account through which the 1st defendant (Kyari) received salaries and allowances from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF),” Yero said.
The witness added that NDLEA analyzed Kyari’s bank records for 16 years, from 2006 to 2022, and discovered that deposits into his accounts significantly exceeded his known police earnings.
The NDLEA investigator further disclosed that funds tagged as “operational funds” were wired directly from the CBN into Kyari’s accounts. However, a substantial portion of these funds was transferred to family members and associates.
“We calculated everything the defendant earned in salaries and other entitlements and compared it with inflows into his account. Our analysis showed that over ₦200 million was received beyond what he should have earned officially,” Yero testified.
The witness told the court that Kyari refused to provide a written statement to the NDLEA, insisting that he would only explain himself in court.
Meanwhile, the court admitted into evidence Kyari’s bank statements and BVN analysis, despite objections from his defence counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who reserved his reasons for challenging the admissibility until later in the trial.
Under cross-examination, the NDLEA witness acknowledged that Kyari was once regarded as a “super cop” due to his crime-fighting role but stated that the embattled officer failed to provide evidence to support his claim that he was involved in agriculture.
“He declared some assets, including landed properties in Maiduguri, Borno State, but failed to declare others,” Yero added.
When asked whether Kyari had ever been convicted before any court, Yero admitted he was not aware of any prior conviction. However, he noted that some of the undeclared assets traced to Kyari were claimed to belong to his late father or wife.
The witness also admitted that there is no law prohibiting a person from owning multiple bank accounts but maintained that Kyari’s accounts contained funds that exceeded his known income.
Earlier in the proceedings, a Compliance Officer from Sterling Bank, David Ajoma, tendered three bundles of documents, including statements of accounts linked to Kyari.
Following the witness’s testimony, Justice James Omotosho adjourned the trial till March 24, 2025, while the NDLEA disclosed plans to produce two additional witnesses in the case.
Aside from the 10-count charge on asset concealment, Kyari is also facing an eight-count charge in another case, where he and four members of his former Intelligence Response Team (IRT) are accused of tampering with cocaine seized from two convicted drug traffickers at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Kyari is on trial alongside ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty and remain in custody pending the determination of their cases.
