The Economic and Finance Crime Commission in Sokoto says it arrested two Chinese nationals after rejecting N100 million gratification offered by a Chinese construction firm to drop fraud investigations.
The firm, China Zhounghao Nigeria Limited, was in April debarred by the African Development Bank for 18 months for fraudulent practices.
Zamfara has awarded contracts worth more than N55 billion to the company between 2012 and 2019, according to the Abdullahi Lawal, head of EFCC’s zonal office in Sokoto.
The company received around N41 billion, and N16 billion of it, equivalent to $53 million, was diverted and “traced to bureau de change operators”, Lawal said.
On May 7, Meng Wei Kun, managing director of China Zhounghao, contacted Lawal in respect of an ongoing investigation into the firm, Lawal said.
Lawal said Meng offered him and his investigating team N100m to drop the investigation.
“However, after series of discussions on May 11, it was agreed that I should come to collect half of the money,” he disclosed.
“At about 22:30hrs of same day Wei Kun called for the collection of the money at their office/residence, along Airport road, Kasarawa village, Sokoto.”
Lawal said in the process, Meng Wei Kun and another man, Xu Kuoi, were arrested and N50 million, three laptops, 5 smart phones and some relevant documents were recovered.
He further said that the suspects would soon be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.
