Chinese man scammed after paying fraudsters N30.6m bribe to secure road contract

The police have arrested a man identified as Mr. Adamu Garuba, aka Honourable Ibrahim, for allegedly scamming a Chinese national of the sum of N30.6million.

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The suspect, working with his sister-in-law, Rita Waziri, and others still at large, specialised in defrauding contractors, interested in road construction contracts from the Kaduna state Government. Rita posed as the Commissioner of Works and Housing.

They were arrested after they defrauded a Chinese Engineer, Su, of the sum of N30.6million under the guise of assisting him to land a road construction contract from the Kaduna State Government. 

Su who lives in Abuja, was approached in July 2018, by one Mayowa, a member of the syndicate, now in jail over a different fraud case.

Mayowa informed Su that the Kaduna State Government was searching for contractors to rehabilitate a 14 Kilometre Road at the Kagoro area of the state. 

Mayowa, in his bid to convince Su that the contract was genuine, brought in Garuba, who he presented as Honourable Ibrahim, a serving member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, who is also the Chairman of Budget and Planning Committee of the House. 

Playing his part smartly, Garuba informed Su that he would have to register his company with the Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority. He told him that the process of the registration was N1.6m.

The Police said: 

“After Su paid the N1.6million, Mayowa and Garuba invited him to the Kaduna State Government Secretariat, Kaduna State. They took him to a makeshift office, which proudly displayed pictures of members of the syndicate.

Another member presented himself as Commissioner of Finance and the sum of N28million was taken from Su after negotiation of the contract. A fake contract awarding letter was issued to Su, but a few months after, he became suspicious of the deal.

He contacted Garuba, complaining and demanding a refund of his money, but he was lured to Kaduna State, where he was kidnapped and a ransom of N2million collected from him before he was released, that was when the police stepped in and smashed the syndicate.

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