The two Chinese nationals who allegedly offered N100 million as a bribe to officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been arraigned before the Sokoto High Court.
Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi were docked on Friday for criminal conspiracy and offering gratification to public servants.
When the charges were read to them, they pleaded not guilty.
Following their plea, Justice Muhammad Sifawa adjourned the case till June, 15 for the commencement of the hearing.
Justice Sifawa also directed that the accused be remanded in EFCC custody pending the hearing and determination of their bail application May 18.
Daily Trust reported that the Sokoto zonal office of the EFCC had rejected N50 million as an initial deposit of the N100million offered to its officials as gratification by a Chinese Construction company allegedly involved in money laundering.
The zonal head of the agency, Abdullahi Lawal, explained that contracts worth over N55 billion were awarded to the company by Zamfara state government, between 2012 and 2019.
“However, the company received payment of over N41 billion and about N16 billion equivalent to over 53 million USD, which was diverted and traced to Bureau De Change Operators,” he said
According to Lawal, on Tuesday, May, 7, Kun, who is the Managing Director, China Zhounghao Nigeria Limited contacted him in respect of an ongoing investigation against their company.
He said that the Managing Director had offered him and members of his team the sum of N100 million to scuttle their investigation.
“However, after a series of discussions on May 11, it was agreed that I should come to collect half of the money.
“At about 22:30hrs of the same day Wei Kun called for the collection of the money at their office/residence, along Airport road, Kasarawa village, Sokoto.
“However, in the process, Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Kuoi were arrested and the sum of N50 million, three laptops, 5 smartphones and some relevant documents were recovered,” he said.
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