The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, has filed a five-count charge against Jimi Lawal, a former aide to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, accusing him of corruption and money laundering.
The case, with charge number FCH/KD/16c/2025, was filed by Dr. Osuobeni Ekpi Akponimishingha, the Assistant Chief Legal Officer of ICPC, on January 15, 2025, at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
Lawal, who served as Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to the former governor, was charged alongside Umar Waziri, Yusuf Inuwa, and Solar Life Nigeria Limited.
According to the ICPC, Lawal “indirectly took control of the sum of N10,000,000 from the Kaduna State Accountant General Operational Account 0211139802 via the Guaranty Trust Bank Automated System (GAPS) and paid it into the Guaranty Trust Bank Account 0130133086 of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, an account for which he was the sole signatory.”
The ICPC further alleged that Lawal ought to have known that the funds were part of the proceeds of corruption, contrary to Section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In count two of the charges, Jimi Lawal is accused of indirectly taking control of N47,840,000 from the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance through GTB Account 0130133086 in July 2018.
Additionally, the ICPC alleged that in September 2018, while serving as a public officer in Kaduna State as Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to Governor El-Rufai, Jimi Lawal took control of N7,320,562 from the Kaduna State Internally Generated Revenue Account.
The funds were said to have been domiciled in United Bank for Africa (UBA) Account 10200067882 and later transferred to the Guaranty Trust Bank Account 0130133086 of Solar Life Nigeria Limited, an account for which he was the sole signatory.
The ICPC emphasized that Jimi Lawal ought to have known the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act of corruption, which contravenes Section 18(2)(d) and is punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In another count, the ICPC alleged that in October 2024, Jimi Lawal made false statements to Messrs. Wellington Nkemadu and Gudi Johnson Daniel during their investigative duties.
According to the complainant, Jimi Lawal claimed that the total sum of N64,800,562—received in three tranches of N10,000,000, N47,840,000, and N7,320,562 from the Kaduna State Government through the Guaranty Trust Bank Account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited—was paid to Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed and Aisha Dikko as estacode.
The ICPC asserts that Jimi Lawal knew the statement was false and, in doing so, committed an offence under Section 25(1)(a) and punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
THE WHISTLER reports that penultimate Tuesday, the Commission charged Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, a former Chief of Staff to El-Rufai, with money laundering before the Federal High Court, Kaduna.
According to the charge sheet, Saidu, who also served as Commissioner of Finance in the state, allegedly accepted a cash payment of N155,000,000 from one Ibrahim Muktar, a public officer in the Ministry of Finance, exceeding the amount authorized by law.
Saidu was being investigated for allegedly laundering N3.96 billion and misappropriating N244 million during his tenure in the Kaduna State government.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly had also indicted El-Rufai’s government for allegedly syphoning state government funds to the tune of over N423 billion.
