Crime

Explosive Confession: Sa’idu Links El-Rufai to Multi-Million Dollar Money Laundering Scandal

Published by Tope Fakinlede on January 9th, 2025.

Explosive Confession: Sa’idu Links El-Rufai to Multi-Million Dollar Money Laundering Scandal

Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, the former Chief of Staff to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has reportedly implicated his former boss in a statement regarding an ongoing money laundering investigation against him.

Sa’idu, who was arrested and charged on December 31, 2024, by security agencies, was remanded at the Kaduna Correctional Centre by the Chief Magistrate Court in Rigasa. The charges accuse him of selling $45 million in foreign currency owned by the Kaduna State Government—equivalent to ₦18,450,000,000—at a significantly lower rate of ₦410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of ₦498 per dollar. This action allegedly caused a loss of ₦3,960,000,000 to the state’s finances.

The prosecution claims that the transaction took place in 2022 when Sa’idu served as Commissioner of Finance in El-Rufai’s administration. The charges further accuse him of laundering the ₦3,960,000,000 discrepancy, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, Section 18.

An anonymous security source revealed that in his confessional statement, Sa’idu pointed to El-Rufai’s direct involvement in the currency conversion process. According to the statement, Sa’idu clarified that decisions on currency exchanges were made by El-Rufai, not the Commissioner of Finance. He also noted that bids for the conversion of funds were often submitted to the Governor, whose instructions ultimately determined the final amount to be converted, and that many of these bids were higher than those in the parallel market.

Under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, anyone found guilty of such violations faces imprisonment of four to 14 years, a fine of no less than five times the amount involved in the crime,or both.