The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized a multi-million Naira filling
station and a shopping complex from a man who described himself as a building
engineer, Abdullahi Rilwan, for failing to explain where he got the money to buy
the properties.
The EFCC said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson
Uwujaren, that Rilwan was also arrested for offences bordering on operating a
land racketeering syndicate, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of
classified documents, obtaining by false pretences and money laundering.
According to EFCC, the big boy was first accosted in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja during a separate investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement fraud.
Detectives were said to have visited the area to
verify the ownership of several properties suspected to be proceeds of money
laundering.
In the course of investigating the ownership of a filling
station and a shopping complex both still under construction, located along Pegi
Road in the Kuje Area Council, operatives gathered that Rilwan was in charge of
the construction work.
The statement added, “Rilwan, who was subsequently
engaged, denied ownership of the station but confirmed he was the engineer in
charge of the construction work. He admitted to being the owner of the shopping
complex. He also told operatives that he was the owner of two companies, Kaibo
Oil and Gas and Kaibo Properties, but could not account for his source of
wealth.
"A visit to his office revealed that
he was involved in several shady and suspicious business
deals."
The statement
added, “The search unearthed several implicating documents in his custody, many
of which he uses to sell plots of land. Properties
recovered from his residence in Kuje included letter-heads in the name of Kuje
Area Council, allocating plots of land, an ‘Irrevocable Power of Attorney’ in
favour of Air Commodore Bassey Inyang, a ‘Right of Occupancy’ document granted
to Henryville Farms, Abuja, among other implicating
documents.
“The filling station and the complex are currently
under investigation and he would be charged to court as soon as investigations
are concluded.”
