The Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has brought former Kaduna State government contractor, Bashir Bello Ibrahim, before the Federal High Court in Kaduna over an alleged N111 million fraud case.
Ibrahim, who serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Formal Act Legacy Limited, appeared before Justice A. M. Aikawa on a seven-count charge that includes allegations of obtaining money under false pretence, advance fee fraud, and money laundering.
One of the charges reads:
“That you, Bashir Ibrahim Bello (being Managing Director of Formal Act Legacy Limited) and Formal Act Legacy Limited, sometime in July 2024 at Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, conspired between yourselves to commit a felony, to wit: obtaining the sum of N37,300,000 under false pretence, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
Another count accuses Ibrahim of conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which carries penalties under Sections 18(3) and (4) of the same law.
The defendant entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges. After his plea, the prosecution counsel, Fortune Amina I. Asemebo, requested the court to fix a date for trial. Defence counsel, M. T. Mohammed, on the other hand, filed a motion for bail, which the court declined to entertain at that stage.
Justice Aikawa consequently ordered that the accused be remanded at a Correctional Centre until the court decides on his bail application.
The EFCC stated that the charges originated from a petition filed by a complainant who claimed he was introduced to Ibrahim in 2024 by three individuals — Josephine Washima, Mamuda Nyelong, and Nalara Tanimu — said to be contract facilitators.
According to the petition, the trio assured the complainant that Ibrahim could secure contracts for constructing solar-powered boreholes across Nigeria’s North-East, presenting him as a “United Nations Sub-African Regional Coordinator.”
The petitioner reportedly paid N37.3 million as a facilitation fee into Washima’s account and received five fake contract award letters for the installation of 20 solar-powered boreholes.
He went ahead to complete one part of the supposed contract — drilling four boreholes in Karin Madaki, Bauchi State — but never received any payment. When he realized the contracts were fraudulent, he filed a report with the EFCC, leading to Ibrahim’s arrest and subsequent arraignment
