EFCC Arraigns Fake Contractor for N111m Fraud in Kaduna

The Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Bashir Bello Ibrahim, a former Kaduna State government contractor and Chief Executive Officer of Formal Act Legacy Limited, before Justice A. M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Kaduna, for alleged fraud involving N111 million.

Ibrahim was docked on a seven-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, advance fee fraud, and money laundering.

One of the counts reads:

“That you, Bashir Ibrahim Bello (being Managing Director of Formal Act Legacy Limited) and Formal Act Legacy Limited sometime in July 2024 at Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, conspired among yourselves to commit a felony, to wit: obtaining the sum of N37,300,000 (Thirty-Seven Million, Three Hundred Thousand Naira) under false pretence, and thereby committed 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 reads:

“That you, Bashir Ibrahim Bello (being Managing Director of Formal Act Legacy Limited) and Formal Act Legacy Limited sometime in July 2024 at Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, conspired to commit an offence to wit: money laundering and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) and (4) of the same Act.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Following his plea, prosecuting counsel Fortune Amina I. Asemebo requested a date for trial, while defence counsel M. T. Mohammed applied for the hearing of the defendant’s bail motion.

Justice Aikawa, however, declined to entertain the bail application and ordered Ibrahim’s remand in a correctional facility pending the hearing of his bail application.

According to the EFCC, the case arose from a petition by a businessman who alleged that he was introduced to the defendant in 2024 by three persons — Josephine Washima, Mamuda Nyelong, and Nalara Tanimu — who presented themselves as contract facilitators. The trio allegedly convinced him that Ibrahim, acting as the United Nations Sub-African Regional Coordinator, could award him contracts for the construction of solar-powered boreholes across the North-East.

The petitioner reportedly paid over N37.3 million as a facilitation fee into Washima’s account after receiving five purported letters of contract award for the drilling of 20 solar-powered boreholes.

He claimed to have executed one lot — four boreholes at Specialist School, Sabon Abuja Jahun; Nurses Quarters; and Water Board Quarters, all in Karin Madaki, Bauchi State — but was never paid. It was later discovered that the contracts were fictitious, prompting him to petition the EFCC.

The court adjourned the matter to a later date for the hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial.