The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned a couple on five-count charges bordering on misappropriation of funds to the tune of NN410,518,000 (Four Hundred and Ten Million, Five Hundred and Eighteen Thousand Naira only).
Aisha Salihu Malkohi (a.k.a Ummitah, Arab Money) and her husband, Abubakar Abubakar Sadiq Mahmoud, who is currently at large, were arraigned on Friday, December 8, 2023, before Justice Aisha Mahmud of the Kano State High Court sitting in Kano.
TheFact Daily gathers from one of the charges that Aisha Salihu Malkohi and Abubakar Sadiq Mahmoud (now at large), between January and December 2022, received the sum of Two Hundred and Twenty-Five Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-Nine Thousand Naira only (225,259,000) from one Farida Ibrahim, for the purchase and supply of 64 cars, from Saudi Arabia. The money was received via a Zenith Bank account bearing Abubakar Sadiq Mahmoud, an act which contravenes Section 1(a) & (b) and is punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act,2006.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the five counts when they were read to her.
In view of her plea, EFCC counsel, Zarami Mohammed prayed the court for a trial date. Defence counsel, G.I Abubakar moved a bail application for his client which was opposed by Mohammed.
Justice Mahmud thereafter adjourned the matter till December 15, 2023, for a ruling on the bail application. She also remanded the defendant in EFCC custody pending a ruling on her bail application.
Malkohi was arrested by investigators of the EFCC in Kano following a petition from two petitioners, Farida Ibrahim, and Ibrahim Mohammed Abdulrahman alleging that she conspired with her husband and defrauded them of their hard-earned monies under the guise of supplying them with cars, gold, electronics and kitchen utensils from Saudi Arabia.
The Commission, upon receipt of the petition, conducted a thorough investigation which so far revealed that the defendant had collected a total sum of N410,518,000 (Four Hundred and Ten Million, Five Hundred and Eighteen Thousand Naira only) through bank accounts belonging to her company, Golden Grass Hill International Ltd and her husband’s Zenith Bank account.
Further investigation also revealed that the defendant, alongside her husband, who is still at large, diverted the monies into several bank accounts.
