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In a dramatic twist that could shake Nigeria’s infrastructural power corridors, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has burst a suspected multi-billion-naira fraud involving the ongoing Lagos red line railway project.
The scandal has drawn in major players a top Chinese construction firm, a controversial oil magnate, and a phantom consultant allegedly introduced by a now-deceased middleman.
The financial officer of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the firm handling the high-profile rail project identified as Lee is currently cooling his heels in EFCC custody.
He was apprehended last week in connection with a N1 billion payment made to Ocean Gate Energy Ltd., a little-known oil and gas company linked to Aisha Achimugu, a controversial businesswoman long rumored to have deep ties to Nigeria’s political and business elite.
According to insiders, investigators are probing the legitimacy of the payment, which CECC had earlier described as part of a N10 billion consultancy fee owed to Achimugu’s firm.
However, documents in the EFCC’s possession have revealed a troubling contradiction: Ocean Gate Energy is registered solely as an oil and gas services company not a certified consultancy agency.
The plot thickens. When interrogated, CECC’s financial executives claimed the deal was brokered by a certain Nigerian businessman who, quite conveniently, passed away two years ago.
The implication? The company is now claiming amnesia, alleging they have no clear records on how the contract originated or why Ocean Gate was chosen as a consultant on a multi-billion-naira railway project.
Sources within the EFCC confirmed that Lee’s international travel documents remain confiscated, effectively grounding him in Nigeria as the investigation deepens.
Efforts by CECC to quietly sweep the matter under the carpet have reportedly failed.
A delegation sent to lobby the new EFCC chairman was turned away at the gate, signaling a new era of accountability at the anti-graft agency.
A top male official of the EFCC revealed that the case is not going away anytime soon.
He said, “The case is not going away anytime soon,”
“We are expecting to charge Mr. Lee, CECC, and Ocean Gate Energy to court very soon.
“The Nigerian people deserve to know what happened to that N1 billion.”
The coming weeks promise explosive courtroom drama as prosecutors prepare to drag some of the biggest names in Nigeria’s infrastructure and oil sectors into the dock.
The Street Journal.
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