By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, the former Chief of Staff to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has reportedly implicated his former principal in a confessional statement tied to an ongoing money laundering investigation.
Sa’idu was arrested and arraigned on December 31, 2024, at the Chief Magistrate Court in Rigasa, Kaduna, where he was later remanded in prison custody.
The former Chief of Staff faces charges related to the alleged sale of $45 million in hard currency, belonging to the Kaduna State Government, at a significantly undervalued rate of ₦410 per dollar. This rate was much lower than the parallel market rate of ₦498 per dollar, resulting in a loss of ₦3.96 billion to the state government.
The prosecution claims that the incident occurred in 2022, when Sa’idu served as the Commissioner for Finance under El-Rufai’s administration.
The charges further allege that the funds were laundered in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
A security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Nation that, in his statement to the police, Sa’idu claimed that the decision to convert the funds was made by the then-Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, and not by the Commissioner of Finance.
Sa’idu reportedly stated that El-Rufai personally instructed how much money was to be converted and oversaw the bidding process for currency conversion, frequently rejecting higher bids in favor of those offering less favorable rates.
Under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, anyone found guilty of such violations could face imprisonment for a term ranging from 4 to 14 years, in addition to a fine of up to five times the value of the proceeds of the crime.
