The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a businessman, Alexander Adeniran Babarinde, over his alleged involvement in a contract scam, obtaining money under false pretence and forgery.

Babarinde was arraigned by the EFCC,  alongside his company, Ajays Engineering Limited and one Suleiman Muhammed, (who is currently at large) before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin, the state capital, on eight–count charges bordering on obtaining under false pretence on Monday, February 5, 2024.

The EFCC said the defendants allegedly obtained several amounts of money from the complainant under the guise of funding and executing some Federal Government contracts.

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

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The anti-graft agency said its findings revealed that the letters were forged and never emanated from the said government agencies.

The EFCC noted that the defendants obtained money to the tune of N170 million from the petitioner as capital to execute the non-existent contracts, adding that all attempts to recover the money proved abortive.

The businessman, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges when they were read to him

Following his plea, the counsel for the EFCC, Rasheedat Alao, urged the court to remand the defendant (Babarinde) in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service and give a date for trial to enable the prosecution to prove its case.

Justice Abdulgafar ordered that the defendant be remanded at the correctional centre and adjourned the case till March 13, 2024, for trial.

The Star