Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday, announced the arrest of two Chinese for offering N100 million bribe to its top officer. The Sokoto Zonal Office of the EFCC on Monday 11 May, arrested the two Chinese men: Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Koi for offering a sum of N50,000,000 in cash as bribe to its Zonal Head, Mr. Abdullahi Lawal as a first instalment.
According to a tweet by EFCC, the bribe was allegedly offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations of a construction company, China Zhonghao Nig. Ltd, handling of contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government in the sum of N50,000,000,000.00 (Fifty Billion Naira) between 2012 to 2019.
The company has been under investigation by the zonal office of the Commission, in connection with the execution of contracts for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nassarawa towns of Zamfara state. The company is also being investigated under for the construction of one hundred and sixty eight (168) solar- powered boreholes in the 14 local government areas of the state, EFCC said.
Investogist on April 20, reported that the African Development Bank Group announced the debarment of this same company, for 18 months over fraudulent practices.
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According to EFCC, the investigation of the construction company was informed by an intelligence on alleged conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, official corruption, abuse of office, stealing and money laundering obtained against the Zamfara state government through inflated and uncompleted contracts awarded to the company.
The company was “alarmed by the consistency and professionalism of investigation being conducted, the company reached out to Lawal with an offer of N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira) as bribe to “bury” the matter”.
“In a grand design to trap the corrupt officials, Lawal played along which led to their arrest. On Monday, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totaling fifty million naira (N50 million) in their office along airport road, Sokoto. The cash was offered as a first instalment. The suspects were promptly arrested with the cash as an evidence” EFCC stated.
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According to the Commission, “Investigations into the company, have so far revealed that China Zounghao Ltd has received payments of over N41,000,000,000.00 (Forty One Billion Naira) from the Zamfara state government, out of which about N16,000,000,000.00 (Sixteen Billion Naira) equivalent to over $53,000,000.00 (Fifty Three Million US Dollars) was allegedly diverted and traced to some bureau de change operators”
The EFCC said that the suspects would soon be charged to court
Written by
Ifunanya Ikueze
