Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed,
\nawarded over N1billion fictitious contracts to himself, allocated 12
\nchoice plots of land worth billions and 37 commercial plots of land worth
\nover N10billion, to himself, sons, cronies and Aides, investigators have
\ntold Pointblanknews.com.<\/p>\n
His front, one Tariq Hammood, his son Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed, top
\nDirectors in FCT namely, Hajia Jamila Tangaza, Ibrahim Bomoi and Babayo
\nMainasara have all confessed to being part and accomplices to the fraud
\nperpetrated by the former Minister.<\/p>\n
Recalled that Pointblanknews.com had in 2014 exclusively reported that the
\ntwo sons of Bala Mohammed, Shamsudeen and Abdullahi, all under 30 years
\nold, are alleged to have stashed about N35billion in Unity Bank and an
\noffshore account in Dubai, the UAE.<\/p>\n
Abdullahi, a man with no clear means of livelihood, has cars in his fleet
\nworth over N2 Billion. Abdullahi\u2019s fleet includes Porshe, G Wagons of
\ndifferent grades, Lamborghini, Ferraris, and the N800 million MaClaren
\n650S Coupe.<\/p>\n
Irked by Pointblanknews.com expose of the flamboyant and reckless
\nlifestyle of his children, the former FCT Minister had directed the former
\nInspector General of Police, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar to arrest the
\nPublisher and Editors of Pointblanknews.com.<\/p>\n
When that failed, the former Minister unleashed media urchins to blackmail
\nthe owners and Editors of Pointblanknews.com using his Media Adviser, Mr.
\nNosike Ogbueyin.<\/p>\n
However, after escaping probe of petitions that have been with the
\nEconomic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, since 2013, the anti-graft
\nagency has now seized four houses of the embattled former Minister and his
\nson Shamsudeen worth over N900million. The Houses are at No 1 and 3,
\nMariam Mukhtar Street, Asokoro, Abuja.<\/p>\n
The EFCC, according to sources, also obtained forfeiture order to seize
\nthe ex-minister\u2019s son three duplexes costing about N222 million in the Apo
\nArea of Abuja.<\/p>\n
The ex-minister who is also under investigation over the controversial N1
\ntrillion Abuja land swap, awarded fictitious contracts worth Billions to
\nmore than 17 companies linked to him, according to investigators.<\/p>\n
An investigator who does not want to be named said: \u201cWe are probing the
\nimmediate past Minister of FCT on many allegations against him, including
\naward of N1 billion fictitious contracts; abuse of office by allocating 12
\nchoice plots to his son and 37 other commercial plots worth about N8
\nbillion to Hammood, who is suspected to be his front; land swap, among
\nothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the petitions against Bala Mohammed had been pending since 2013.
\nInitial findings showed that the ex-minister used fictitious companies to
\naward contracts worth N1 billion in FCT. In one instance, a man with three
\ncompanies was allowed to bid for one slot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 16 companies used for fictitious contracts are under investigation
\nbecause they did not supply items credited to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also uncovered how Bala allocated plots of land to his friends,
\nbusiness partners. For examples, he allocated 12 plots of land to his son,
\nShamsudeen, and 37 commercial plots of land to his business front called
\nTariq Hammood.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of those quizzed so far confessed that Bala used unconventional
\nmethods in raking illicit funds and laundering same. Each time the
\nex-minister allocated a plot of land, he would find out the market value
\nand ask you to pay half of the amount to him in cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor instance if a plot of land was N2 billion, Bala would ask for N1
\nbillion cash from the prospective buyer. He was smart in collecting cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the EFCC has traced allocation of 37 commercial plots to Hammood and
\nhow N8billion was made from it. In fact, we saw a proposal by Tariq
\nHammood to sell some of the plots.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, our operatives have arrested, detained and quizzed Shamsudeen. He
\nis presently on administrative bail. We have also interrogated Hammood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on substantial findings, we approached the court to obtain an
\ninterim forfeiture order to seize a N650million from the ex-FCT Minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened was that the former minister allocated some plots of land
\nto Aso Savings and they bought the N650 million house for him at Nos. 1
\nand 3, Mariam Mukhtar Street, Asokoro District.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFCC has confiscated three duplexes totaling N222million which were
\nacquired by the ex-minister\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe invoked sections 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and
\nSection 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 which empower the
\nanti-graft agency to invoke Interim Assets Forfeiture Clause.<\/p>\n
\u201cSection 28 of the EFCC Act reads: \u2018Where a person is arrested for an
\noffence under this Act, the Commission shall immediately trace and attach
\nall the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such
\neconomic or financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an
\ninterim attachment order from the Court.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are investigating him; we are yet to invite him for questioning.
\nCertainly, we are closing in on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for Ms Jamila Tangaza, we arrested and detained her because she was
\nconnected with the land scam and abuse of office and we traced some
\nquestionable N800million to contract to her a company she owns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ex-minister asked her to resign her appointment with BBC and
\nappointed her as a Senior Special Assistant on Media and Information. But
\nBala allocated some plots of land to her to sell in order to acquire a
\nmansion in Asokoro District too. Her house was allegedly worth
\nN158million.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, Jamila allegedly abused her office by awarding N800million
\ncontracts to her company which is called Songbird Multimedia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer case was interesting. When she registered the company with the
\nCorporate Affairs Commission, she used a fictitious name as the CEO of the
\ncompany but she is the sole signatory to the company\u2019s account and her
\nphone number is the point of contact with the firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have sent her signature on CAC document and other specimen signatures
\ncollected from her to a forensic laboratory. Following a court order, we
\ndetained her in the past few days but as at Friday, she was pleading that
\nwe should grant her bail. We are looking into her request.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source added: \u201cYou can verify from her what transpired. From custody
\nin EFCC, we went with her to her office to recover some documents. We used
\nthe EFCC bus but along the way, she begged us to park the bus away from
\nthe vicinity of AGIS where she is a director. She did not want her staff
\nand others to notice that she was brought to the office by EFCC team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obliged her request by parking outside AGIS. We also didn\u2019t allow
\npolicemen in uniform to follow her to the office. We assigned plain-clothe
\noperatives and even asked her if she wanted the only lady in our team to
\nfollow her so that Jamila can blend with the crowd in AGIS without anyone
\nsuspecting anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, awarded over N1billion fictitious contracts to himself, allocated 12 choice plots of land worth billions and 37 commercial plots of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n