Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arrested two Chinese nationals for allegedly offering a $250,000 bribe in local currency to one of its senior officials.
Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Koi were arrested for offering a sum of fifty million Naira (equivalent to $250,000) as bribe to its EFCC Zonal Head, Mr. Abdullahi Lawal.
The alleged bribe was said to be an attempt to scuttle an investigation into multi-million dollar corruption allegations involving a Chinese construction company in Nigeria where the two suspects work.
The anti-corruption agency said it was investigating alleged corruption involving about $130m in contracts for roads and water projects. It is also investigating money laundering claims.
The EFCC said it was investigation the company with respect to roads and water contracts in Zamfara. It turned out that the amount was the first-part of an agreed upon hundred million Naira bribe to “bury” the matter.
“In a grand design to trap the corrupt officials, Lawal played along, and on Monday, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totalling fifty million naira in their office along airport road, Sokoto,” the statement added.
The contracts were awarded by Nigeria’s Zamfara state government to China Zhonghoa Nigeria Limited between 2012 and 2019.
Neither the Chinese company nor its officials have commented on the matter.
