How 6 foreigners almost duped Dangote $50m – IGP

A Federal High Court in Abuja has detailed how Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, avoided losing millions of dollars to foreign contractors hired to work on his refinery project.

Court filings by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) revealed that several Asian nationals, engaged to lay undersea pipelines for Dangote Refineries in Lagos, allegedly forged documents and tried to fraudulently claim $50 million before an arbitration panel in London.

The foreigners named in the case include He Jun, Sun Yuzhu, Yong Li, Dr. Feng, Jaykumar Sagar, and Rajnish Gupta. According to police lawyers, they failed to deliver on their contract and presented a fake completion certificate to the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), a scheme exposed when Dangote Refineries produced contrary evidence.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Rimamsomte Ezekiel told the court the suspects, “are all foreigners who are based in Lagos, Nigeria,” and said a criminal charge has already been filed against them at the Lagos State High Court (Charge No. 11/26401C/2025). Ezekiel asked the court to issue a warrant of arrest to ensure the suspects appear for trial.

In supporting documents, investigators alleged that “sometime in 2021 under false pretense and with intention to defraud their victim, who is Alhaji Dangote, [the suspects] conspired among themselves, forged and submitted a certificate of completion of projects to the London Court of International Arbitration Tribunal to claim sum of $50,000,000.00 (US Dollars).”

The affidavit further stated that some suspects have gone into hiding while others have made confessions to police. The IGP said an arrest warrant would allow Nigerian authorities to apply for extradition “even if they are out of the country and hiding in any part of the world.”

Justice Emeka Nwite granted the warrant and gave police 30 days to complete investigations and report back on September 20.

In a related motion, the court also froze five bank accounts allegedly linked to Mohammed Tayiru (Tahir), a Dangote Cement truck driver accused of diverting truckloads of thick iron pipes worth billions of naira. The accounts are domiciled in Access Bank, GTBank, UBA, PalmPay, and Opay Digital Services.

Police allege Tayiru sold the materials and deposited the proceeds for personal use, adding that the offences occurred between June and July 2025 in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and other locations. Justice Nwite ordered the investigation on this second application to be concluded within 60 days.

(NATION)