EFCC arrests Gov Sule Lamido’s two sons over alleged N10b fraud

According to a report by Premium Times The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) has arrested two sons of Jigawa state
governor, Sule Lamido, over an alleged
N10billion fraud.
Aminu and Mustapha  Lamido were
arrested on Thursday in Kano and flown
to Abuja on Friday morning, and are
currently being interrogated at the EFCC
headquarters in Abuja by a crack team
of detectives.
The arrest of the governor’s sons,
insiders say, is in furtherance of the
investigation that commenced in
December 2012 when Aminu Sule
Lamido was arrested at the Mallam
Aminu Kano Airport en route Cairo,
Egypt for failure to declare the $50,000
he had on him. Although Aminu has
since been prosecuted and convicted by
a Federal High Court in Kano,
investigation as to how he came by the
money has led investigations to uncover
a web of money laundering in which
billions of naira from Jigawa state govt
accounts are funnelled into the accounts
of companies run by the Jigawa state
governor and his 2sons.
Over N10billion is said to have been
transferred from Jigawa state government
accounts into the accounts in which Sule
Lamido and his two sons have interest from
2007 till date.
The Commission is said to have traced these
transfers to 10 companies where Lamido and
sons are directors and signatories to the
account.
The companies include Bamaina Alluminium
Limited, Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina
Company Nigeria Limited, Rawda Integrated
Services Limited, Speeds International Limited
and Saby Integrated Nigeria Limited.
The account of these companies received
huge cash inflow between 2007 and 2013, a
period that coincide with the tenure of Sule
Lamido as governor of Jigawa state. For
instance in Bamaina Aluminium where Sule
Lamido and his two sons are directors,
investigations revealed that the company’s
account controlled by Mustapha as signatory
received total credit of N1.52billion between
January 2010 and August 2013. It recorded a
total debit of the same amount, with
Mustapha and other companies in which
Lamido and his sons are directors, being the
beneficiaries.
In the same vein, Bamaina Holdings Limited’s
account with the governor as sole signatory
received a total of N1.19billion between
February 2007 and July 2013.
About N1billion was paid from this account
into accounts of companies controlled by the
governor and his sons.
Massive lodgements were also discovered in
the account of Bamaina Company Nigeria
limited controlled by Mustapha as sole
signatory from Bamaina Alluminium. Between
January 2010 and July 2013, the account
received over N500million.
From the account of Rawda Integrated
Services Limited controlled by Mustapha,
there have also been massive movement of
funds to another company run by Sule
Lamido, Speeds International Limited. Speeds’
account recorded a turnover ofN2.2billion
between January 2007 and February 2010.
In the account of Rawda with a new
generation bank investigators discovered the
movement of N2.6billion to an unknown
signatory.
That account recorded over one hundred
withdrawals running to over N600milion in
cash between November 2007 and April
2008.
Saby Integrated Services Nigeria Limited,
another company owned by Lamido received
over N730million from several Jigawa State
government agencies between June 2010 and
August 2010.