ICPC To Arraign Masari Over N184.5m Alleged Contract Fraud


The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has filed 27 charges before an FCT High Court against a former Director-General of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bature Umar Masari.

According to the ICPC, Masari will be prosecuted over an alleged fraudulent award of constituency project contracts to the tune of N184.5m.This was disclosed in a statement signed on Friday by the spokesperson for the commission, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa.

The ICPC said Masari awarded the specialised entrepreneurship constituency projects contracts for Benue State and allegedly received kickbacks to the tune of N99.8m between 30th April 2014 and 24th December 2014 from various contractors.

In one of the charges, he was alleged to have received the sum of N50m in November 2014 from one of the contractors and distributed part of the sum to some other persons, an offence contrary to Section 10(a)(i) and punishable under Section 10(a)(ii) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.

The commission also stated that there were additional charges against Masari as he allegedly received various other sums from different contractors.

Furthermore, it said all payments from the contractors were made to the personal account of Mr Masari with Guaranty Trust Bank and Salsala Integrated Farms bank account with Diamond Bank, a company allegedly linked to the defendant following a search to the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The court is, however, yet to fix a date for the arraignment of the former Director-General.

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