Discoveries of 189 fake companies that were forged to get land allocations in the Federal Capital Territory have been revealed by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
In a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the commission’s Registrar General, Hussaini Magaji, disclosed this information.
The discovery, in accordance with Magaji, was made as a result of a Federal Capital Territory Administration complaint to determine the existence of a dormant corporation demanding land allocation.
According to his statement, he investigated the case further and discovered more firms after discovering the fraudulent corporation.
He said that a cartel comprising of commission members, lawyers, and employees of the Abuja Geographical Information System had been found, and that two suspects, among them a lawyer, had been detained.
Magaji said, “Let me use this opportunity to inform the public that one of the major milestones achieved so far since I assumed office, is our ability to bust a cartel or a link of individuals that are creating havoc for the commission.
“This cartel creates companies through collaboration with some lawyers claiming to be accredited agents of the commission and staff of Abuja Geographical Information System to secure land allocations in the FCT and we only knew this crime after a complaint from the Federal Capital Territory Administration asking us to verify some applications made by some entities, which turned out to be non-existent on our 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.
Explaining their mode of operations, the CAC boss said the cartel manoeuvred the land process to make their applications for land allocation priority over existing applications aiding land fraud in the capital city.
He noted, “The nature of their crime is they create fake entities through connivance with some lawyers claiming to be accredited agents of the commission and staff of Abuja geographical information system and apply for land at the FCT, manoeuvring their ways to a priority application over existing application in other to take over lands and they have been quite successful before we discovered it.
“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.”