Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, former Chief of Staff to Malam Nasir El Rufai, has implicated his former principal in a confessional statement related to an ongoing money laundering case against him.
Sa’idu, who was arrested and arraigned by security agencies on December 31, 2024, is facing charges of selling $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government at a significantly undervalued rate, resulting in a ₦3,960,000,000 loss to the government.
According to a security source, Sa’idu’s confessional statement to the police implicated El-Rufai, stating that the procedure for currency conversion was not the decision of the Commissioner of Finance but that of the then Governor of Kaduna State.
The charges against the former Chief of Staff allege that he sold $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government—equivalent to ₦18,450,000,000—at the significantly undervalued rate of ₦410 per dollar. This was instead of the parallel market rate of ₦498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in a ₦3,960,000,000 loss to the government.
According to the prosecution, the offence allegedly took place in 2022, when Sa’idu served as Commissioner of Finance in the El Rufai administration.
The prosecution further alleged that the ₦3,960,000,000 discrepancy was laundered by Sa’idu, in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
A security source, speaking anonymously to select journalists in Kaduna on Thursday, disclosed that Sa’idu implicated El Rufai in his confessional statement to the police.
The accused reportedly stated:
“The procedure for currency conversion was not the decision of the Commissioner of Finance but that of His Excellency, the then Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El Rufai. Whenever the need arose to convert funds to naira, the Governor would direct how much to convert. Bids from various buyers were obtained, and in most cases, the bids I forwarded to His Excellency for approval were higher than those available in the parallel market.”
Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 stipulates that anyone who violates subsection (2) is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years and not more than 14 years, a fine of no less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime, or both.
NewsNGR reports that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, former Chief of Staff to Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, with money laundering before the Federal High Court, Kaduna on Tuesday.
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 in Kaduna.
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.