Bisola David
The Corporate Affairs Commission has uncovered 189 fake companies used to secure land allocations in the Federal Capital Territory.
The CAC Registrar General, Hussaini Magaji, stated this during a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja.
He explained that the discovery of a non-existent company led him to investigate further, resulting in the identification of other companies.
According to the registrar, two suspects including a lawyer have been arrested while a cartel involving staff of Abuja Geographical Information System, lawyers, and the commission have been identified.
The registrar said that one of the major achievements made since he assumed office had been the ability to bust a cartel or a link of individuals causing problems 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 bodies, which turned out to be non-existent on our system.”
“With the information we had, I gave a directive on the issue and we have so far identified 189 fake companies used to secure land allocations in the FCT.”
He explained that the nature of their crime is that they create fake entities by teaming up with some lawyers claiming to be accredited agents of the commission and staff of Abuja geographical information system and then apply for land at the FCT, maneuvering their way to a priority application over an existing application.
He added that this made them take over lands and that they had been quite successful until they were discovered.
“As of Monday, we arrested two suspects including a lawyer and we are interrogating them to get more information and fish out other members of this cartel.”
The registrar-general promised to increase the commission’s revenue base by sanctioning companies who fail to disclose their annual returns amongst other penalties.
He said that increasing its revenue base would enable the commission to perform its objective as a world-class commission.
