The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has unveiled a shocking revelation of 189 non-existent businesses that were used to acquire property allocations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Registrar General of the CAC, Hussaini Magaji, disclosed this discovery during a press conference held in Abuja on Tuesday, October 24.
The revelation came to light when the Federal Capital Territory Administration requested the commission to verify the status of a non-existent firm seeking land allocation.
In response to this request, Magaji initiated a thorough investigation, which led to the identification of additional fraudulent companies. These fake entities had been colluding with lawyers, who falsely claimed to be accredited agents of the CAC, along with staff from the Abuja Geographical Information System.
“With the information available to us, I gave a directive on the issue and we have so far identified 189 fake companies used to secure land allocation in the FCT. We have also facilitated the arrest of two suspects,” he said.
Magaji explained that the modus operandi of the fraudsters involved creating fictitious entities and using their alleged legal representation and inside connections to secure land allocations in the FCT.
Their schemes included maneuvering their applications to gain preference over legitimate applicants, and perpetuating land fraud in the capital city.
Consequently, two suspects, including a lawyer, have been arrested as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle the cartel responsible for the fraudulent activities.
“As of yesterday we arrested two suspects including a lawyer and we are interrogating them to get more information and clampdown on other members of this cartel.
“In the course of our investigation and research, we found that the companies do not exist. And with the collaboration of security agents, we arrested a suspect and by arresting him, he has volunteered some information and from that, we have gotten a clue that something like this is happening and we are working hard to stop this menace.”
The CAC’s Registrar General highlighted that the fraudulent activities had been successful in the past, but these discoveries have exposed the clandestine operation.
