The immediate past Attorney‑General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), his son, Abdulaziz, and his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, on Wednesday, secured a combined ₦1.5 billion bail from the Federal High Court in Abuja, in the high‑stakes money laundering prosecution brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The ruling was delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, who imposed stringent bail conditions on the defendants amid allegations of unlawful acquisition and concealment of public funds.
Justice Nwite ordered that Malami be admitted to bail in the sum of ₦1 billion, while his wife, Hajia Asabe, was granted bail of ₦500 million.
Each defendant must present two sureties, each owning landed property in the Asokoro, Maitama, or Gwarinpa districts of the Federal Capital Territory, in the respective sums.
According to the court, in addition to submitting the property title documents for verification, the defendants must surrender their passports. Moreover, it held that the sureties must submit two recent passport photographs and also depose to an affidavit of means.
The court further warned that the defendants must not travel outside the country without the court’s express permission.
They will remain in prison custody until the bail conditions are perfected. Following the bail ruling, the matter was adjourned to February 17 for trial.
Malami, who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, is facing a 16‑count money laundering charge brought by the EFCC.
He was arraigned alongside his son, Abdulaziz, and his wife, Asabe, who was said to be an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Limited, a company alleged by the anti‑graft agency to have been used to conceal proceeds of unlawful activity through property transactions.
The EFCC alleges the trio laundered public funds totalling about ₦9 billion.
According to court documents, between July 2022 and June 2025, the defendants allegedly used Metropolitan Auto Tech Limited to conceal over N1.01 billion in a Sterling Bank account.
They are further accused of siphoning about N600 million between September 2020 and February 2021 through the same company.
Additionally, the anti‑graft agency stated that the defendants retained N600 million in March 2021 as cash collateral for a ₦500 million loan obtained by Rayhaan Hotels Ltd from Sterling Bank, despite allegedly knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime.
The defendants were said to have breached several provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
The EFCC indicated that among those expected to testify against the defendants are investigators from law enforcement agencies, bank officials, real estate agents and bureau de Change operators.