A former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and his son, Abdulaziz Malami, were arraigned by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday before the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges of financing terrorism.
The defendants entered a not guilty plea to a five-count allegation of aiding and abetting terrorism when they were docked before Joyce Abdulmalik.
The charge sheet alleges that Malami deliberately assisted in the funding of terrorism while serving as Attorney General by allegedly declining to bring charges against suspected terrorist financiers whose case files were sent to his office for prosecution.
The prosecution claimed that the former AGF’s inaction amounted to willful aiding and abetting acts related to terrorism.
Malami and his son were also charged by the DSS with acting in a way that was conducive to terrorist actions.
According to the allegation, the defendants were discovered in possession of a Sturm Magnum 17-0101 pistol without a valid license.
Additionally, they were charged with possessing sixteen live Redstar AAA 5.20 cartridges and twenty-seven expended Redstar AAA 5.20 cartridges illegally.
When the allegations were presented to them in court, both defendants entered not guilty pleas.
The case was postponed by Justice Abdulmalik for additional processes, such as the consideration of bail requests.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission first detained Malami, the former Attorney-General of the Federation under former President Muhammadu Buhari, on suspicion of money laundering and fraud.