AFRICA’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, narrowly escaped a sophisticated fraud scheme involving foreign contractors and local collaborators, according to revelations made at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Court documents filed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) sighted by News Point Nigeria detailed how a group of foreign nationals allegedly attempted to defraud Dangote Refineries of $50 million, while a local truck driver diverted truckloads of heavy-duty iron pipes belonging to Dangote Cement, valued in billions of naira.
The alleged fraudsters, identified as He Jun, Sun Yuzhu, Yong Li, Dr. Feng, Jaykumar Sagar, and Rajnish Gupta, mostly Asians were contracted to lay undersea pipelines for the movement of crude oil to the Dangote Refineries in Lagos.
Instead of delivering on the contract, they allegedly forged a certificate of completion, which they presented before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in an attempt to claim $50 million.
Their plan was exposed after Dangote Refineries presented evidence to the tribunal that no such work had been completed, prompting the tribunal to reject their claim and recommend further investigation.
At Friday’s hearing, ACP Rimamsomte Ezekiel, counsel for the police, told the court that criminal charges had been filed against the suspects at the High Court of Lagos State.
“The respondents are foreigners residing in Lagos. They forged documents to defraud Alhaji Dangote and presented false evidence before an international tribunal,” Ezekiel stated.
He sought a warrant of arrest to enable the police to secure their presence in court and initiate extradition if necessary.
In granting the application, Justice Emeka Nwite directed the police to conclude their investigations within 30 days and report back by September 20.
In a related case, the police also sought and obtained an order to freeze five bank accounts linked to Mohammed Tayiru (Tahir), a truck driver allegedly involved in the diversion of Dangote’s industrial materials.
The accounts frozen include those in Access Bank, GTBank, UBA, PalmPay, and Opay, all traced to Tayiru.
According to investigators, Tayiru diverted truckloads of thick iron pipes meant for Dangote Cement operations, sold them off, and deposited the proceeds running into billions of naira into his accounts.
“The suspect sold all the thick iron pipes given to him for delivery and converted the funds for personal use,” the police affidavit stated.
Justice Nwite, in ruling on the second application, ordered that investigations into the fraud be concluded within 60 days.
Meanwhile, despite the fraud attempts, Dangote has maintained his spot as Africa’s wealthiest man, with a net worth of $24.4 billion, according to the latest Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
He ranks 88th globally, ahead of South Africa’s Johann Rupert ($13.2bn) and Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris ($8.8bn).
Dangote has held the title of Africa’s richest man for 14 consecutive years, a position he first attained in 2008, briefly lost, but reclaimed in 2011.