The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Umar Abdullahi before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, for alleged N131.8 million and $200,000 fraud.
Blueprint reports that Abdullahi’s travail commenced following a petition by Alhaji Shehu Badamosi to the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, in which he alleged that the defendant approached him, claiming to have secured a contract with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and needed financing to the tune of N131.8m and $200,000 for its execution.
The petitioner further claimed that the defendant after receiving the money from him became incommunicado, while all his efforts to recover his money from him, proved abortive.
EFCC head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, in a press statement, Tuesday in Abuja, said Abdullahi, an Information and Communication Technology consultant was being prosecuted on four-court charges, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, advance fee fraud and money laundering to the tune of N131.8 million and $200,000.
He said one of the charges reads: “That you, Umar Abdullahi, sometime between July 2024 and August 2024, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did accept and transact cash payment of $200,000 for allotment of shares in Multi Access Controls Limited, in excess of the N10 million threshold, without transacting through a financial institution, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 2 (1) (a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 19 (2) (b) of the same Act.”