EFCC investigates Chinese coy over alleged N30m fraud

By Aminu Imam

A Chinese company, Sanju Sunny Nigeria Limited, also known as China Railway No3 Engineering Nigeria Limited is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), for its involvement in

an alleged N30, 460, 000 fraud, a source within the commission has told our reporter

Documents obtained by our reporter showed that Sanju Nigeria Limited had claimed it used the money to bribe some Nigerian government officials in order to facilitate several contracts.

Sanju Ltd claimed it had offered bribe to several states’ officials, which includes state governors, state finance ministers, bank managers, officials of EFCC, and an assistant to Nigeria’s First Lady. In one of its claims, Sanju had claimed it offered the Kaduna state Ministry of Finance $20,000 to facilitate approval for the

construction of Kaduna housing projects. It also claimed it gave officials of African development bank in Ghana the sum of $2000 to facilitate work at Mina road project.

Sanju also claimed it gave cash gifts to officials of Gombe ministries of finance and works in 2011. The amounts, which ran up thousands of dollars, was to facilitate the quick approval of a dam project in the state. Some of the payments went as far back as 2010.

Our reporter gathered that a group of Chinese nationals had secretly petitioned the EFCC to draw the attention of the Nigerian government.

The petitioner said all they want is for the Nigerian public as well as government to be wary of dealing with the company.

“These are they kind of people who give our country bad image. We want the Nigerian government to take note of their nefarious activities and ensure that nobody does business with them,” he said.

When contacted, the EFCC spokesman neither denied nor confirmed the report, but stated that the commission will make public any case it was prosecuting.