ICPC drags El-Rufai’s ex-aide to Court over alleged money laundering

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Malam Nasir El Rufai’s former Chief of Staff, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, to the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

Alhaji Bashir Saidu, who was also a one-time Commissioner of Finance in Kaduna State during the El Rufai administration, was charged along with one Ibrahim Muktar, “a public officer in the employment of the Ministry of Finance,” on Tuesday.

According to charge No FHC/KD/IC/2025, the defendants are being accused of two counts of money laundering, contrary to earlier claims that Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu had been exonerated of all charges after 10 months of investigation.

The court document stated that sometime in March 2022 or thereabouts, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, who at that time was Commissioner of Finance, “did accept cash payment of the sum of N155,000,000.00 from one Ibrahim Muktar exceeding the amount authorised by law, which sum you received in cash through proxy to wit: Muazu Abdu, your Special Assistant, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 2(a) and punishable under Section 19(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

The ICPC also alleged that in the same March 2022 or thereabouts, Bashir Saidu “indirectly took control of the sum of N155,000,000.00 received in cash for and on behalf of you by one Muazu Abdul from Ibrahim Muktar, which fund 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 subsection (2) is liable on 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 Assistant Chief Legal Officer of ICPC, Dr Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, was filed on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Holden in Kaduna.

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