The EFCC 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.”
It was learnt that the revelation made EFCC operatives to beam its
searchlight on Rilwan’s business activities. On October 31, a search and
arrest warrant was executed at his Kuje residence.
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.”