How I converted N22 billion to USD for Ex-Power Minister Saleh Mamman – Witness 

On Wednesday, a bureau de change (BDC) operator told an Abuja Federal High Court how he converted N22 billion to dollars for the Ministry of Power under Saleh Mamman, a former minister on trial for alleged money laundering.

Abdullahi Suleiman, the BDC operator, who is the eighth witness in the case, said that the money was exchanged for US dollars through his various business accounts.

During the proceedings, Suleiman said that up to 12 of his business accounts were used to receive funds from the Ministry of Power without carrying out any project, service or contract for the ministry.

Some of the businesses include: Prymint Investment Limited, Strong Field International Projects Limited, Mintedge Nigeria Limited, First Class Construction and Project, Silverline Ocean Ventures, Golden Bond Nigeria Limited, Sipikin Global Enterprise, Spinhiills Biz International Limited, Fullest Utility Concepts Limited, Platinum Touch Enterprises, Breathable Investment Limited and another business owned by Suleiman’s brother named Gurupche Business Enterprises

Suleiman mentioned that he established contact with the Ministry through Maina Goje, a fellow BDC operator, who asked him to provide some of his account numbers for some transactions.

“I know Alhaji Maina Goje, we are in the same business. Sometime in 2019, Maina Goje met me [and said] that he had transactions; that I should give him some of my account numbers. The first account I gave him was Fullest. He will send money and I will give him dollars. He started asking for more accounts. He will tell me what to do with the transactions, I will get the dollar and give him and sometimes I will do a transfer to other accounts,” Suleiman recounted.

“We have been working together since then till 2024. From my rough calculations, the amount I have received through the transactions will be more than N22 billion. Also, Maina used to send someone called Musbhu anytime he was not available, he would send him and give me instructions on what to do with him, we do call him Yaro Minister because he is from Saleh Mamman.

“I also know Mr Mustapha Muhammed, Goje told me that he is his oga. I didn’t know him before until Maina Goje introduced him to me, then I learnt he works with Federal Ministry of Housing and instructed that anytime they can’t reach him, I should give him the amount of dollars he requested.”

When Suleiman was shown exhibits which contained bank statements of the funds sent into his Strong Field International Projects Limited, Mintedge Nigeria Limited and Prymint Investment Limited accounts, he confirmed that those were the accounts he gave to Goje.

Some of the transactions include: N285,983,285 received on May 24 2021, N278,248.611 on May 26, 2021, N320m on January 1, 2021, 184m on June 18, 2021, N178,300,285 sent on July 14, 2021, N75,420,000 received on August 5, 2021, N75,120,000 he got on December 1, 2021, N68,150,620 and N70,650 on December 15, 2021, N90,247,395 on January 12, 2022, and N64,747,627 on February 16 2022.

In July, Abubakar Kweido, an EFCC operative, narrated how investigations showed that multiple funds were transferred from the account meant for the Mambilla hydroelectric power project into various company accounts through BDC operators and converted to foreign currencies.

“Our investigation revealed that huge amounts of money from the project account of Mambilla were sent to different entities that were not authorised on the project, we then wrote letters of investigation activities to Central Bank of Nigeria and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for Mambila and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant Projects,” Kweido narrated.

“When we analysed the responses, we saw that over N33.8 billion from the project account were sent to over 13 entities that are not the authorised contact.

“We also requested the bank record of the accounts from Corporate Affairs and other commercial banks which revealed that persons behind the operation of these entities were mainly one Maina Goje, Abdulahi Suleiman and Abdulahi Garba.

“We invited them to account for the funds they received from the Mambila project account. They reported to our office where they informed us that they have never applied for any contract with the Federal Ministry of Power or the Federal Government. They said they were bureau de change operatives. They also mentioned that all the monies received were disbursed based on the instructions of one Mustapha Abubakar Dida. The disbursements were usually in foreign currencies, naira cash and sometimes via bank transfers.”

Source: FIJ