A Federal High Court in Kaduna State has denied the bail application filed by Mr Bashir Saidu, a former chief of staff to the immediate past Governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai.
Saidu, who also served as Commissioner for Finance under the El-Rufai administration, was arraigned on 10 counts bordering on money laundering, embezzlement and stealing of public funds belonging to the Kaduna State Government.
He was arrested on January 2nd, 2025 by the police and was later remanded at the Kaduna correctional centre in the state capital.
However, when the matter came up for mention before Justice Isa Aliyu on Tuesday, the defendant pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.
Part of the charges alleged that Saidu sold $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government, equivalent to N18,450,000,000 at a significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in a N3.9bn loss to the government.
According to the prosecution, the offence allegedly took place in 2022, when the defendant served as Commissioner of Finance in the El-Rufai administration.
The prosecution alleged that the over three billion naira discrepancy was laundered by Sa’idu, in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
While counsel for the Defendant, M I Abubakar notified the Court about a pending bail application and the need for the court to grant his client bail having spent 21 days in custody, the prosecution counsel, Professor Nasiru Aliyu, however, opposed the bail application. He argued that the law provided that the prosecution be allowed seven days to file its response to the bail application.
In his judgement, Justice Aliyu ruled that the prosecution be given adequate time provided by the law to file its defence to the bail application.
He, therefore, adjourned the case till January 23rd, 2025 for hearing of the bail application.
