The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has apprehended the a former Kaduna State government contractor and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Bashir Ibrahim Formal Act Legacy Limited over an alleged N30 billion fraud which involves multiple victims and contracts.
Ibrahim was arrested by the operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Directorate after the commission received a petition from 251 individuals, who accused him of being into fraudulent activities and impersonation.
According to the anti-graft agency, though his contract with the state government had been terminated, the complaints received by the Commission against him pointed to the allegation that Ibrahim is parading himself to unsuspecting victims as consultant for the 23 local government areas in Kaduna State as well as that of the United Charity Foundation, UCF, FICCORD with affiliation to Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs Office.
In the petition letter, it was alleged that Ibrahim informed his victims that he had a 2020 Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with the 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.
However, investigations carried out by the agency revealed that he is not a consultant to UCF and 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.
According to the EFCC on Friday, “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.
“From investigations, it was further discovered that when he took delivery of the supplies, he would warehouse them, kept the LGAs in the dark about their delivery and furthermore, failed to pay he contractors the value of what they supplied. 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.
Some of the item recovered from the suspect after being arrested include 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.
Other items 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.
Meanwhile, the Commission is collaborating with the National Agency for Food and Drugs (NAFDAC) and the Kaduna State Ministry of Health in the evaluation of the cache of medicines found in his storage facilities as well as in carrying out qualitative analysis on them.
Following the inspections, Umar Ahmad Suleiman, Investigation and Enforcement Officer with the Federal Task Force of NAFDAC, said some of the drug manufacturers were registered with the agency. He added that while certain medicines were still within their shelf life, others had expired, and some were outright counterfeits produced by manufacturers not registered with NAFDAC.
Backing this position, Abubakar Isa Balarabe, a pharmacist and Team Leader from the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, confirmed that several medicines had indeed expired. He also noted that the warehouse where they were stored failed to meet acceptable standards. “The storage is not fit for any medicine because of the way and manner it was kept,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that Ibrahim will be charged to court once the ongoing investigation is fully concluded and all necessary legal procedures are in place.