The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a farmer named Zakari Muhammad with three counts of employment scams in the Kaduna State High Court.
EFCC Zonal Command in Kaduna State said Muhammad allegedly collected the sum of ₦2 million from one Sa’idu Bashir Amin with the promise to secure him a job with the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) sometime in September 2021.
The anti-graft agency said an investigation revealed that the funds were paid in two tranches into Muhammad’s account.
EFCC added that the defendant neither facilitated the job offer nor refunded the victim.
“That Zakari Muhammad, sometime in September 2021 in Kaduna within the judicial division of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N 2,000,000 ( Two Million Naira) only from one Sa’idu Bashir Amin when you presented yourself to him that you are capable of securing a job for him with the Petroleum Equalisation Fund ( PEF) which pretence you knew to be false and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.” one of the charges reads
Muhammad, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecuting counsel, M.U Gadaka, urged the court to fix a date for the commencement of the hearing, while the defence counsel, Y.M Rabiu, urged the court to grant bail to his client.
Justice A. A Bello, however, granted the defendant bail in the sum of ₦1 million.
The court also ordered Muhammad to provide a surety in the same amount who had to be a civil servant in Grade 14, live within the court’s jurisdiction, and own a piece of land with a Certificate of Occupancy as part of the requirement for his bail.
The case has been adjourned until Wednesday, July 12, for the commencement of trial.
