Kaduna State High Court has denied bail to Mohammed Bashir Sa’idu, a former commissioner in the state.
Gatekeepers News reports that Kaduna government arraigned Sa’idu on Tuesday on a 10-count charge bordering on money laundering, embezzlement, and stealing. The former commissioner however pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The state government accused Sa’idu of “selling $45 million in hard currency belonging to the State Government, equivalent to N18,450,000,000 at the significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, with criminal intent, resulting in an N3,960,000,000 loss to the government”.
The state government said the former commission made the offence in 2022 when Sa’idu was commissioner for finance under the administration of Nasir el-Rufai.
During the court’s proceedings on Tuesday, M. I. Abubakar, counsel to the former commissioner told the court he has a pending bail application for his client.
Abubakar asked the court to grant bail to Sa’idu as he was arrested on January 2, 2025. And to enable him to prepare for his defence.
Nasiru Aliyu, the prosecuting counsel objected to the bail application. He told the court that the law provides that the prosecution be allowed seven days to file its response to the bail application.
Isa Aliyu, the presiding judge ultimately ruled in favour of the prosecution and adjourned the case to January 23 for a hearing of the bail application.
