The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC), has charged Nasir el-Rufai’s former Chief of Staff and Finance Commissioner, Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, to the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
Sa’idu was charged along with one Ibrahim Muktar, a public officer ‘in the employment of the Ministry of Finance’, yesterday.
According to the charge sheet, with Reference No: FHC/KD/IC/2025, the defendants are slammed with a 2-count charge bordering on money laundering.
This is contrary to earlier claims that Sa’idu had been exonerated of all charges after 10 months of investigation.
The court document stated that sometime in March 2022 or thereabouts, Sa’idu, as Commissioner of Finance, “did accept cash payment of the sum of ₦155,000,000.00 from one Ibrahim Muktar exceeding the amount authorised by law.
He was alleged to have collected the cash by proxy through his Special Assistant, Mu’azu Abdu, thereby “committed an offence contrary to Section 2(a) and punishable under the Section 19(d) of the Money Laundering(Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022’’.
The ICPC also alleged that same March 2022 or thereabouts, Sa’idu indirectly took control of ₦155, 000,000.00 received in cash for, and on his behalf, by one Mu’azu Abdul from Ibrahim Muktar, “which funds you reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity, to wit: corruption; and you hereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022’’.
Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 states that: “any person who contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years, but not more than fourteen years, or a fine not less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime, or both”.
The charge, which was signed by the ICPC’s Assistant Chief Legal Officer, Dr. Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, was filed on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at the Federal High Court, sitting in Kaduna.
