The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday May 12, confirmed the arrest of two Chinese nationals who allegedly attempted to offer N100 million bribe to the commission’s Sokoto zonal head of operations, Lawal Abdullahi and his team.
The arrested suspects identified as Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi are said to be officials of a construction company, China Zhounghao Nigeria Limited.
The company is being investigated by the anti-graft agency for alleged conspiracy, abuse of office, misappropriation, diversion of public funds as well as money laundering.
The bribe was allegedly offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations of the company’s handling of contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government in the sum of N50,000,000,000.00 (Fifty Billion Naira), between 2012 to 2019.
The zonal office of the Commission is investigating the construction company, in connection with the execution of contracts for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nassarawa towns of Zamfara state; also, the construction of one hundred and sixty eight (168) solar-powered boreholes in the 14 local government areas of the state.
Alarmed by the consistency and professionalism of investigation being conducted, the company reached out to Lawal with an offer of N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira) as a bribe to “bury” the matter.
In a grand design to trap the corrupt company officials, Lawal played along, and on Monday, May 11, 2020, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totaling fifty million naira in their office along airport road, Sokoto. The cash was offered as first installment before they were arrested.
Here is a photo of Lawal Abdullahi, EFCC’s zonal head of operations in Sokoto who has received praises online after rejecting the bribe and refusing to compromise the case.
