N423bn Money Laundering: ICPC Drags El-Rufai’s Associate, Jimi Lawal, Three Others To Court

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, filed a five-count charge of money laundering and corruption against Jimi Lawal, a former aide to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

The suit with charge number FCH/KD/16c/2025, was filed by at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Division by Dr. Osuobeni Ekpi Akponimishingha, an Assistant Chief Legal Officer with the anti-graft commission.

Jimi Lawal, who served as Senior Special Adviser/Counsellor to the former governor El-Rufai, is being charged alongside Umar Waziri, Yusuf Inuwa, and Solar Life Nigeria Limited.

The ICPC told the Court that Jimi Lawal took control 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 also said 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 and 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 ICPC said 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 stressed that Jimi Lawal ought to have known the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act of corruption, which contravenes Section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Similarly, the ICPC alleged that in October 2024, Jimi Lawal made false statements to Messrs Wellington Nkemadu and Gudi Johnson Daniel during their investigative duties and 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 also said 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.

Significantly, penultimate Tuesday, the ICPC charged Muhammad Bashir Saidu, a former Chief of Staff to former Governor El-Rufai, with money laundering before a Federal High Court, Kaduna.

The charge sheet showed that 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 investigated for allegedly laundering N3.96 billion and misappropriating N244 million during his tenure of office as a public servant with the Kaduna State government.

The Kaduna State House of Assembly had also indicted former Governor El-Rufai’s government for allegedly syphoning state government funds to the tune of over N423 billion.