EFCC arrests ex-government contractor over alleged N30 billion fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has arrested a former Kaduna State government contractor and an official of Formal Act Legacy Limited, over alleged N30 billion fraud.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said this in a statement, on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Oyewale said that the suspect was formerly a consultant with the state government but had his contract terminated due to alleged fraudulent activities.

He explained that in spite of the termination of his contract, the official (names withheld) paraded himself as the authentic contractor to the 23 local government areas in Kaduna State.

Mr Oyewale said the official also allegedly defrauded Athena United Charity Foundation, FICCORD with affiliation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Office.

According to him, the official has no less than 251 complaints received by the commission against him.

”It is also alleged that the suspect informed his victims that he had a 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kaduna State Government.

”The MoU, according to him ,is 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.”

He said that in spite of the termination of the MoU, the suspect anll engaged in unauthorised award of fictitious contracts to the tune of approximately N30 billion.

Mr Oyewale alleged that the suspect did this by convincing his victims to supply items meant for construction of hospitals, motorised boreholes, hospital beds and mattresses, drugs and vaccines.

He said the suspect allegedly received the items on behalf of the Kaduna State Government, sell some and diverted their proceeds to his personal use.

”From investigations, it was discovered that when he took delivery of the supplies, he would warehouse them, keep the local government areas in the dark about the delivery.

“He does not also pay the 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.”

He said that items recovered from him included 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.”

He said that the commission was collaborating with 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.

Mr Oyewale said following the inspections, Umar Suleiman, investigation and enforcement officer, federal task force, NAFDAC, confirmed that some of the drug manufacturers were registered with NAFDAC, while some were unregistered.

He quoted Mr Suleiman as saying that some of the medicines were still within shelf life, while some had expired with some being outright counterfeits.

”Corroborating the position of the NAFDAC official, Abubakar Balarabe, a pharmacist and Team Leader, Ministry of Health Kaduna State said that some of the medicines had expired.

He noted also that the warehouse, where the medicines were stored, fell below standard.

“The storage is not fit for any medicine because of the way and manner it was kept,” he said.

According to Mr Oyewale, the suspect will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.