Alleged 64M Fraud: ICPC to arraign three El-Rufai’s ex-appointees on Friday

Barring any last-minute changes, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) will arraign in court three ex-appointees of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in a fresh 64 million naira money laundering suit.

The ex-appointees are Mr. Lawal Shakiru Olajimi Adebisi, a former Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to El-Rufai, the ex-Accountant General of Kaduna State, Mr. Umar Waziri, and Mr. Yusuf Inuwa, the former Finance Commissioner in the state.

Also joined in the suit is Solar Life Nigeria Limited, the company whose bank account is believed to have received the diverted funds.

In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, ICPC accuses Mr. Lawal of conniving with the two other accused persons to divert a total sum of N64,800,562 (Sixty-Four Million, Eight Hundred Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty-Two Naira) in three tranches of N10,000,000, N47,840,000, and N7,320,562 to the bank account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, where Mr. Lawal is believed to be the sole signatory.

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

It would be recalled that ICPC last week, in a separate charge, arraigned the former Chief of Staff and Commissioner of Finance in Kaduna State, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, for a money laundering suit.

ICPC, in a two-count, also filed before the Federal High Court in Kaduna, accused Sa’idu of accepting a cash payment of N155,000,000 from Ibrahim Muktar, a public officer in the Ministry of Finance.