A HIGH COURT Sitting in Kaduna State has denied bail to Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu, the former chief of Staff to Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, the former Governor of the state, in an allegation of money laundering case filed against him.
On Thursday, the court in its ruling refused the bail application on the ground that a formal charge was filed against the former chief of Staff at High Court II in Kaduna.
According to Kaduna State Director of Public Prosecution, Samson Irimiya, “the bail application ruling was delivered refusing the bail application principally on the ground that since a formal charge had been filed by us, it is better that the applicant goes to the court where the charge is filed and pending to apply for bail.”
Sa’idu’s counsel, Oladipo Tolani, SAN, also stated that the court directed them to take the bail application to the court where the proper charges have been filed.
The prosecution further alleged that Sa’idu laundered the N3.9 billion discrepancy in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Sa’idu’s arraignment is scheduled for January 21, 2025, before Hon. Justice Isa Aliyu.
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It was reported that Saidu was arrested by Operation Fushin Kada, formerly Operation Yaki on December 31, 2024.
The former Chief of Staff was arrested in allegation of $45m in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government, equivalent to N18.4bn, at a significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, resulting in an N3.9bn loss to the government in 2022.
The former Chief of Staff is being investigated for allegedly laundering N3.96 billion and misappropriating N244m during his tenure in the Kaduna State government.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly indicted El-Rufai’s government for allegedly syphoning state government funds to the tune of over N423bn.
