The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has declared Mr Jimi Lawal, an ex-Special Adviser to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, wanted over alleged N11 billion light rail fraud.
Though the light rail project was allegedly paid for in full, it was never executed nor there was a contract file for the implementation of the project, according to reports by The Nation on Tuesday.
This is barely two months after an ad-hoc Committee of the Kaduna House of Assembly indicted El-Rufai and his top aides for stealing N423 billion from May 2015 to May 2023.
Mr Lawal was billed to appear before the ICPC team of investigators on Monday but refused to show up nor send any representative.
ICPC, it was gathered, officially requested the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to place Mr Lawal on a watch list at airports, seaports and land borders.
El-Rufai’s top associate is also being probed in connection with “loans (foreign and domestic) obtained without following due process.”
The anti-graft agency revealed that it had discovered that Mr Lawal’s account domiciled with a major bank showed N144 million receipts from four private companies.
The ICPC’s letter to DSS and NIS reads thus: “The above-mentioned person (Lawal Shakiru Olujimi Adebisi), who hails from Ogun State and speaks Yoruba and English fluently, is being investigated for the offence of criminal conspiracy.
“Credible information at the commission’s disposal suggests that the suspect, who is under investigation, is most likely to flee the country to evade being prosecuted.
“You are, therefore, kindly requested to place him on the watch list and arrest him if seen in any of the airports, seaports or land border and inform this commission accordingly.”
The anti-corruption commission has invited 21 top officials and the managing director of a company over $350 million in loans meant for the rehabilitation of schools and strategic infrastructure.
The suspects will undergo interrogation from August 13 to August 16, it was learned.
The officials to be interrogated are: Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Special Agro Processing Zones (SAPZ), Abbas Sani; and SAPZ Accountant, D. Mark Anthony Chunbi; Project Coordinator Kaduna State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (LPRES), Shittu Salisu; and LPRES Accountant, F. Ahmed Suleiman; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), Zubairu Abubakar; and RAAMP Project Accountant, Mercy Emanuel Toro.
Others are Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Transportation Programme, Mariam Sani Dangaji; Project Accountant, Kaduna State Transportation Programme, Nicolas Hassan Samuel; Project Accountant AGILE, Sani Nalado; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC); Project Accountant, ROOSC Abdulhadi Muhammed Suleiman; Project Coordinator, Agro Processing Productivity Enhancement and livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS), Yahaya Aminu and Project Accountant APPEALS, Nasiru Dahiru.
There are also Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Project (SURWASH), Esau Ambinjah; SURWASH Project Accountant, Tukur Umar Ibrahim; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Promoting Service (IMPACT), Usman Garba; and IMPACT Project Accountant, Idris Haliru Makama.
The list includes Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria(ANRiN), Dr Zainab Kwaru Muhammad; ANRiN Accountant, Dr Habibu Muhammad Lawan; Project Coordinator, Kaduna State Agro-climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) Jibrin Dahiru Rufai; ACReSAL Accountant, Ibrahim Tukur Umar; and the Managing Director of Chamberlayne Limited.
The state legislature said it uncovered a cumulative withdrawal of $1.4 million from the Kaduna State Economic Transformation Account.
The panel requested eight people and companies to refund N19, 239,511,099.76; and directed 15 contractors to refund N36, 351,126,811.65 as “being monies paid for work either not done, overpayment or diversion.”
The panel said that although the value of contracts awarded from 1999 to 2023 by El-Rufai’s administration was N510,407,166,975.39, it only paid N198,921,880,169.04 to contractors.
Last week, a Federal High Court in Kaduna dismissed the application filed by former Governor Nasir El-Rufai seeking to quash his indictment by the Kaduna State House of Assembly over N423 billion alleged fraud for lack of jurisdiction.
In his ruling, Justice Rilwanu Aikawa, the presiding judge, transferred the case to the Kaduna chief judge for determination.
