The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Bashir Bello Ibrahim, a former Kaduna State government contractor and Chief Executive Officer of Formal Act Legacy Limited, over an alleged ₦30 billion fraud.
Ibrahim was apprehended by the Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.
According to the Commission, Ibrahim’s contract with the state government had been terminated. However, no fewer than 251 complaints received by the Commission against the suspect alleged that he is parading himself to unsuspecting victims as consultant for the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
He also presents himself as a consultant to the United Charity Foundation (UCF) and FICCORD, claiming affiliation with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Office.
“It is also alleged that he informed his victims that he had a 2020 Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with the Kaduna State government for the purpose of sourcing intervention grants from global donor agencies for the funding of LGA projects in the state and supporting the actualization of SDGs within the state.
“While investigations revealed that the suspect is not a consultant to UCF, his 2020 MoU with Kaduna State government was terminated by the state government in October 2023 as a result of default on the terms of the MoU by the suspect.
“However, despite the termination of the MoU, the suspect intentionally engaged in unauthorised award of fictitious contracts to the tune of approximately N30 billion (Thirty Billion Naira) by convincing his contractor victims to supply items meant for construction of hospitals, motorised boreholes, hospital beds and mattresses, drugs and vaccines which he would allegedly receive on behalf of the Kaduna State government, sold some and diverted their proceeds to his personal use,” the EFCC stated.
The anti-graft agency noted that investigations further revealed that after taking delivery of the supplies, the suspect stored them without informing the LGAs and failed to pay the contractors for their deliveries.
“It is also alleged that the suspect was selling contract award papers using proxies with whom he shared the proceeds. These fraudulent acts coupled with his unilateral alteration of the nature of the contracts and their terms, allegedly led to the termination of the MoU he had with the state government in 2023.
“Items recovered from him include Toyota Hilux pick up vans, ambulances, buses, dispatch motorcycles, caches of drugs and vaccines for children, stacks of hospital beds and mattresses and heavy duty generators. Found in his office store are large quantities of tablets, capsules, syrups, infusions, ointments/creams; medical consumables that include hand gloves, syringes, and mucus extractor.”
The Commission stated that it is working with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Kaduna State Ministry of Health to evaluate the cache of medicines found in his storage facilities and conduct qualitative analysis.
Similarly, Umar Ahmad Suleiman, the Investigation and Enforcement OffIcer, Federal Task Force, NAFDAC, affirmed during inspection that while some of the drug manufacturers are registered with NAFDAC and some medicines are within shelf life, others are expired or counterfeit.
Abubakar Isa Balarabe, a pharmacist and Team Leader at the Ministry of Health in Kaduna, corroborated NAFDAC’s findings, emphasising that the warehouse conditions were substandard.
“The storage is not fit for any medicine because of the way and manner it was kept,” Balarabe said.
“The suspect will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded,” the EFCC added.
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