Alleged ₦223 Million Fraud: Court Remands Rural Electrification Director In Kuje Prison

The Director of Human Resources Management at the Rural Electrification Agency, Suleiman Bulkwang, has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre following his arraignment on charges of alleged money laundering involving ₦223,412,909.
Bulkwang appeared before a Federal High Court in Abuja, where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed five counts against him, accusing him of criminal diversion of funds and money laundering.

The defendant pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges.

The EFCC, in a statement on X, detailed the charges against Bulkwang.

The first charge alleges that while serving as the Director of Human Resources at the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Bulkwang instructed Umaefulem Donatus Chibueze, Managing Director of Cees Assist Resources and Brainstask Value Resources (consultants to REA), to transfer ₦138,123,969 out of the ₦279,330,000 paid by REA to the consultants.

In the second charge, Bulkwang is accused of converting ₦45,000,000, part of the funds paid to various bank accounts of companies connected to REA consultants, knowing the money was part of illicit proceeds.

Count one alleges: “That you, SULEIMAN GARBA BULKWANG, while being the Director of Human Resources Management of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did counsel one Umaefulem Donatus Chibueze, the Managing Director of Cees Assist Resources and Brainstask Value Resources (consultants to REA), to transfer the sum of ₦138,123,969 out of the ₦279,330,000 paid to the consultants by REA, when you knew that the said sum constituted proceeds of unlawful activity. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”

In count two, the EFCC alleges: “That you, SULEIMAN GARBA BULKWANG, while being the Director of Human Resources Management of the Rural Electrification Agency, sometime in July 2023 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, indirectly converted the sum of ₦45,000,000—part of the money cumulatively paid to the bank accounts of Dammy Gold Programme Ltd, World Class Business, Green Haven Company, and De-Sam Rose-Base Ltd by consultants to REA—when you knew that the said sum constituted proceeds of unlawful activity. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(b) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act.”

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who is overseeing the case, adjourned the matter until February 3, 2024, for a hearing on Bulkwang’s bail application. In the meantime, the court has ordered that he be held at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

The EFCC has stated that the case underscores its ongoing efforts to combat financial misconduct in public institutions.