The Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a former Kaduna State government contractor, Bashir Bello Ibrahim, before Justice A. M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna for alleged fraud involving ₦111 million.
Ibrahim, the Chief Executive Officer of Formal Act Legacy Limited, was docked on a seven-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, advance fee fraud, and money laundering.
One of the charges alleged that Ibrahim and his company, in July 2024, conspired to obtain ₦37.3 million under false pretence — an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act. Another charge accused him of money laundering, contrary to Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all charges. Following his plea, EFCC counsel, Fortune Amina I. Asemebo, requested a trial date, while defence counsel, M. T. Mohammed, sought a hearing for his client’s bail application. The court, however, deferred the bail hearing and ordered the defendant’s remand in a correctional centre pending the determination of the application.
According to the EFCC, the case originated from a petition alleging that the defendant, introduced to the complainant by three accomplices — Josephine Washima, Mamuda Nyelong, and Nalara Tanimu — posed as a United Nations Sub-African Regional Coordinator capable of awarding contracts for the construction of solar-powered boreholes across the North-East.
The complainant claimed to have paid over ₦37.3 million as a facilitation fee into Washima’s bank account and received five purported contract award letters for the drilling of 20 solar-powered boreholes. He reportedly executed four boreholes in Bauchi State but was never paid, later discovering the entire transaction was fraudulent.
Justice Aikawa adjourned the matter for the hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial.
