The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week
arrested the Chairman of Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Plc, Suleiman
Yahaya, for allegedly diverting huge amount of money from the company for
personal use, THISDAY investigations have learnt.
Yahaya was arrested by EFCC operatives last Friday in Abuja as
he allegedly wanted to travel to South Africa, ostensibly to escape from the
long arms of the law, and was whisked to Lagos and detained at the Ikoyi, Lagos
office of the commission.
THISDAY learnt that EFCC sought remand
order from the court last Monday to detain Yahaya for 14 days under which it
would complete investigation on the chairman and directors who served under him
to unravel the alleged fraud.
A source also disclosed that last week
Thursday, EFCC invited former Chairman of the Company, Major General Ike
Nwachukwu (rtd) for questioning and was later released.
It was alleged that Yahaya diverted
funds of the company, including the money the company obtained from the Asset
Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), and padded them into staff salaries
until recently when petitions written to EFCC by disenchanted former officials of
the company who felt they were unjustly sacked, drew the attention of the
commission to the company.
Yahaha was accused of using his company
called Rosehill Group to collect 5 percent monthly on all income generated by
NAHCO from cargo handling services. The service Rosehill Group provides for the
handling company was called Management Support but officials of NAHCO said the
company did not have any personnel and rendered no visible service to NAHCO.
The agreement was signed in December
2010 between NAHCO and Rosehill Group under the prompting of Yahaha who
allegedly convinced NAHCO board to sign the deal.
Yahaya was also accused of taking N5
billion bonds for NAHCO, which he allegedly used to buy handling equipment for
the company and to kick start diversification
programme.
It ventured into power and agriculture
and bid for Kaduna Power Distribution Company (DISCO) and lost. Recently, the
company hinted that it wanted to bid for the concession of airport facilities,
which the federal government plans to undertake.
THISDAY also learnt that a day before
the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of NAHCO was held last Wednesday in Abuja, the
Managing Director, Nobert Bielderman, who might have got wind of the visit of
EFCC, sneaked out of town and travelled overseas, while Yahaha, who was about
to check into South Africa Airways flight to Johannesburg, was
arrested by EFCC operatives.
A source told THISDAY yesterday that
what Yahaya allegedly did was a breach of corporate governance of the company
and in line with the anti-corruption stance of the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigeria
Stock Exchange (NSE) have threatened to sanction indicted companies’ directors,
including seizing their assets and prosecuting them with relevant security
agencies to bring them to book when they defraud their companies.
The Manager, Corporate Communications
and Services of the company, Tayo Ajakaye, who had earlier confirmed the visit
of EFCC to NAHCO headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the arrest of the
Chief Financial Officer, said he would not comment on the latest development
but directed THISDAY to the Managing Director of the company, Bielderman, whom
he said was airborne on his way back to Nigeria at the time of filing the story
thisday
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