EFCC arraigns Kaduna contractor, company on N21m fraud charges

From Sola Ojo, Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kaduna Zonal Directorate, has arraigned Bashir Bello Ibrahim, a former Kaduna State Government contractor and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Formal Act Legacy Limited, before Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna.

Ibrahim was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on advance fee fraud, money laundering, retention of proceeds of crime, and obtaining money under false pretence.

According to one of the charges, the defendant and his company, Formal Act Legacy Limited, allegedly conspired in 2023 to obtain N11 million under false pretence, an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

Another count accused Ibrahim of retaining N10 million in a Zenith Bank account in August 2023, knowing it to be proceeds of an unlawful act.

According to the Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale, the offence contravenes Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and is punishable under Section 18(3) & (4) of the same Act.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all charges. Following his plea, prosecution counsel, Fortune Amina Iminabo Asemebo, requested a date for trial, while the defence counsel, M.T. Muhammad, applied for a date to hear the bail application.

Justice Aikawa ordered that Ibrahim be remanded in a Nigerian Correctional Centre pending the determination of his bail application.

The case was adjourned to 2 December 2025 for hearing.

According to the EFCC Spokesman, the defendant was arrested on 28 April 2025 following complaints from 251 petitioners who accused him of defrauding them under various false pretences.

He is also facing two separate fraud cases, having been arraigned on 29 October 2025 on a seven-count charge and again on 3 November 2025 on an eight-count charge.