Rashida Bello, the wife of Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has been charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with alleged N3bn fraud.
Rashida was charged before a federal high court in Abuja alongside Ali Bello, identified as a nephew to the governor.
The EFCC in a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said the Bellos were arraigned on Wednesday alongside three other persons on an 18-count charge “bordering on criminal misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of N3,081,804,654″.
The charge reads in part, “That you, Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege, Iyada Sadat, Rashida Bello (at large) sometime in June, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to retain the aggregate sum of N3,081,804,654.00 (Three Billion, Eighty One Million, Eight Hundred and Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Four Naira) which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to wit: criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 18(a), 15(20)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.”