El-Rufai, associates earmark $600,000 to bribe EFCC officials – DSS to Court

An investigator with the Department of State Security, DSS, Segun Kayode on Tuesday in an open Court told the Judge that the former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai and associates who are sympathetic to his plight have budgeted $600,000 to pay officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and intermediaries for his soft landing.

The DSS official who is a forensic investigator and a prosecution witness made this allegation before the trial Judge at the Kaduna State High Court sitting in Kawo, Kaduna.

Advertisements

He told the presiding Judge, Justice Darius Khobo that $500,000 and $100,000 were allegedly set aside for the payments, adding that the forensic audio recordings captured conversations involving El-Rufai and some of his suspected associates.

Kayode said the the conversations about the fund was recorded which centred on alleged efforts to frustrate an EFCC investigation into a company identified as Singularity.

Advertisements

Advertisements

The DSS operative mentioned a Senior Advocate of Nigeria Bashir El-Rufai (the son of the embattled ex-governor) and one other individual were named in the conversations.

The investigator further revealed before the honourable Justice Khobo that the Senior Advocate and the other individual were allegedly directed to meet one Ahmadu Sule to obtain a template previously used to liquidate another company, with the intention of applying a similar process to Singularity.

Kayode alleged that the discussions included plans to liquidate the company in Nigeria and Mauritius, where it was reportedly under investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

He also alleged that the recordings contained discussions about preventing the EFCC from investigating a company, which he said was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The allegations formed part of the prosecution’s evidence against the former governor and have yet to be established by the court.

Proceedings lasted nearly eight hours, from 12:26 pm to 8:18 pm, with about two hours devoted to playing the recorded conversations.

After Kayode submitted a hard copy of his findings to the court clerk, the defence complained that the document should have been served earlier to enable it to study its contents.

The judge, however, ruled that the defence could obtain a certified true copy of the document admitted as Exhibit One for examination.

The court adjourned the case until November 30 and December 1, 2026, for continuation of the cross-examination, following agreement by the prosecution and defence.

Advertisements

Advertisements