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• ICPC to arraign 3 ex-appointees over N64m alleged fraud
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna and Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Kaduna State High Court has denied former Chief of Staff to Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, bail in the money laundering case filed against him.
The Court had adjourned ruling on a bail application for Sa’idu until yesterday. However, when the case came up, the former Chief of Staff was denied bail principally on ground that a formal charge had been filed against him at the Kaduna State High Court II.
The Court asked the applicant to go to the court where the charge was filed and pending to apply for bail.
The Director of Public Prosecution, Samson Irimiya, who represented the state government, told journalists that his arraignment would come up January 21 before Justice Isa Aliyu.
Counsel to Sai’du, Oladipo Tolani, also confirmed that the Court directed that they should take the bail application to the court where the proper charges have been filed.
Sa’idu, also a former commissioner of finance was initially dragged to the state High Court for money laundering.
A security source had disclosed to journalists that “the former Chief of Staff sold $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government, equivalent to N18.4 billion at the significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar. This was instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in a N3.9 billion loss to the government in 2022.”
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The prosecution further alleged that the N3.9 billion discrepancy was laundered by Sa’idu in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Meanwhile, barring any last minute change of plans, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is set to arraign three former appointees of El-Rufai, in a fresh N64 million money laundering suit.
The former appointees include Mr. Lawal Shakiru Olajimi Adebisi, who served as a Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to El-Rufai; Mr. Umar Waziri, former Accountant General of Kaduna State and Mr. Yusuf Inuwa, former Finance Commissioner. Also implicated in the suit is Solar Life Nigeria Limited, the company believed to have received the misappropriated funds in its bank account
In the lawsuit filed at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, the ICPC accused Mr. Lawal of colluding with the other two defendants to misappropriate a total of N64,800,562 in three transactions: N10,000,000, N47,840,000, and N7,320,562. It is alleged that these funds were transferred to Solar Life Nigeria Limited, where Mr. Lawal is thought to be the sole signatory
The four defendants are scheduled to appear in court on Friday, January 17, 2025, to enter their pleas.
ICPC, had last week in a separate charge arraigned the former Chief of Staff and Commissioner of Finance in Kaduna State, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, for a money laundering suit.
ICPC, in a two-count charge also filed before the Federal High Court in Kaduna accused Saidu of accepting a cash payment of N155,000,000 from Ibrahim Muktar, a public officer in the Ministry of Finance.
