The money was traced using Kyari’s Bank Verification Number (BVN), which was connected to 12 accounts, 10 of which were active, according to Ahmed Yero, Chief Investigator of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), who testified in court.
In his testimony as the ninth prosecution witness (PW-9), Yero stated that his team was tasked by the NDLEA’s Directorate of Assets & Financial Investigation to look into the defendant’s financial activity on February 14, 2022.
Kyari had only declared three bank accounts at first, according to Yero, but forensic examination of his BVN data, which were acquired from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), showed that he had ten active bank accounts, including domiciliary accounts in dollars, euros, and pounds sterling.
According to Yero, “one of the accounts is a salary account through which the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) paid salaries and allowances to the first defendant (Kyari).”
The witness further stated that following a 16-year analysis of Kyari’s bank records from 2006 to 2022, the NDLEA found that deposits into his accounts greatly outstripped his known police earnings.
The NDLEA investigation further revealed that money designated as “operational funds” was sent straight into Kyari’s accounts from the CBN. Nonetheless, family members and acquaintances received a sizable amount of these cash.
“We matched the defendant’s account inflows with the total amount of money he received in salary and other benefits. Our investigation revealed that more than ₦200 million was given to him in excess of what he was legally entitled to receive. Yero testified.
According to the witness, Kyari insisted on explaining himself only in court and declined to provide the NDLEA a written statement.
Despite Kyari’s defense attorney, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who withheld his reasons for contesting the admissibility until later in the trial, the court nevertheless entered his bank statements and BVN analysis into evidence.
Witness: Kyari’s Agriculture Claim Is Unsupported by Evidence
The NDLEA witness admitted during cross-examination that Kyari was previously considered a “super cop” because of his involvement in battling crime, but he said the troubled officer did not back up his allegation that he was involved in agriculture.