Kwara Businessman In Court For N170m Contract Scam

Businessman, Alexander Adeniran Babarinde, has been charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Zonal Command in Ilorin for his role in a N170 million contract scam.

Naija News reports that Alexander, a resident of Oro-Ago in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, was charged before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin on eight counts of obtaining under false pretences.

He was charged by the EFCC, along with his company, Ajays Engineering Limited, and a Suleiman Muhammad, who is currently at large.

Under the pretence of financing and carrying out certain Federal Government contracts, the defendants were accused of taking huge sums of money from the complainant.

According to the petitioner, Babarinde brought contract award letters from the Office of the Secretary of the Ecological Fund Management Committee to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Development, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, the Katsina Universal Basic Education Commission, and the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology.

But EFCC’s findings, revealed that the letters were fake and never came from the specified government organizations.

It was learned that the petitioner had given the defendants N170 million in cash as capital to carry out the fictitious contracts. However, every effort to get the money back was unsuccessful.

Count three of the charges against him reads; “That you, ALEXANDER ADENIRAN BABARINDE, AJAYS ENGINEERING LIMITED and SULEIMAN MOHAMMED, still at large, sometime between the months of January 2021 and December 2021, in Ilorin Kwara state, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of *N30,530,300.00 from one EZEKIEL OLA BABATUNDE, as fees for the funding and execution of Federal government contracts and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act”

Count four of the charges read, “That you, ALEXANDER ADENIRAN, BABARINDE, AJAYS ENGINEERING LIMITED and SULEIMAN MOHAMMED, still at large, sometime between January 2022 and December 2022, in Ilorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of ₦6,655,009.00, from one EZEKIEL OLA BABATUNDE, as fees for the funding and execution of Federal government contracts and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offence Act, 2006 and Punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”

After hearing the charges, the defendant entered a not-guilty plea to every one of them.

The EFCC’s attorney, Rasheedat Alao, then begged the court to remand him in the Nigeria Correctional Service’s custody and set a trial date so that the prosecution could present its case.

The trial was adjourned to March 13, 2024, by Judge Abdulgafar, who also directed that the defendant be placed under detention at the Correctional Service.