How El-Rufai’s ex-Chief of Staff laundered over N3.5bn forex proceeds – ICPC

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday arraigned Bashir Sa’idu, former Chief of Staff to ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, over allegations of forex racketeering and money laundering.

This marks the second set of charges brought against Sa’idu, who also served as Commissioner for Finance during El-Rufai’s administration.

Previously, he was arraigned at the Federal High Court in Kaduna on two counts related to a N155 million fraud case.

In the latest development, Sa’idu faced a fresh 10-count charge filed before the Kaduna State High Court. The ICPC accused him of illegally selling $45 million in government funds at an undervalued exchange rate of N410 per dollar instead of the prevailing parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, resulting in significant financial losses.

The transaction, the ICPC, alleged caused a N3.96bn loss to the Kaduna State Government, which the prosecution claims was laundered in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

READ ALSO: Alleged money laundering : El-Rufai’s ex-chief of staff returns to prison

During Tuesday’s proceedings before Justice Isa Aliyu, Sa’idu pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Defence counsel, M.I. Abubakar, sought the court’s approval for bail, highlighting that the defendant had been in custody for 21 days since his arrest on January 2, 2025.

However, the prosecution, represented by Prof. Nasiru Aliyu, opposed the bail application, citing the statutory seven-day period for filing a response to such requests.

After a 40-minute recess, Justice Aliyu ruled in favour of the prosecution’s request for adequate time to respond and adjourned the bail hearing.

The judge adjourned till January 23, 2025, to address the bail application.

Sa’idu is the fourth appointee of El-Rufai to be put on trial by the ICPC.

Last week Thursday, the anti-graft agency announced the scheduled arraignment of El-Rufai’s ex-Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor, Lawal Adebisi, the former Accountant General of Kaduna State, Umar Waziri, and the former Finance Commissioner, Yusuf Inuwa.

The ICPC said they were charged with money laundering, involving N64m.

The ICPC spokesman, Demola Bakare, said, “In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, the ICPC is accusing Mr Lawal of conniving with the two other accused persons to divert the total sum N64,800,562 in three tranches of N10,000,000,00, N47,840,000.00 and N7,320,562.00 to the bank account of Solar Life Nigeria limited where Mr Lawal is believed to the sole signatory.

“The four accused persons are expected to appear in court on Friday, 17th of January, 2025 to take their plea.”

The Kaduna State House of Assembly had last year indicted the El-Rufai’s administration of theft to the tune of N423bn, a claim the ex-governor vehemently denied.

(Punch)