A Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna has denied the bail application filed by Bashir Saidu, the former Chief of Staff to the immediate past Governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai.

DAILY POST gathered that Saidu, a former Commissioner for Finance under the El-Rufai administration, was arraigned on 10 counts bordering on money laundering, embezzlement, and the theft of public funds belonging to the Kaduna State Government.

The police arrested him on January 2, 2025, and he was subsequently remanded at the Kaduna Correctional Centre in the state capital.

However, when the matter came up for mention before Justice Isa Aliyu on Tuesday, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him.

Part of the charges alleged that Saidu sold $45 million in hard currency belonging to the Kaduna State Government—equivalent to N18,450,000,000—at a significantly undervalued rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar. This, the prosecution claimed, was done with criminal intent, resulting in a N3.9 billion loss to the government.

The prosecution stated that the alleged offence took place in 2022 when the defendant served as Commissioner for Finance in the El-Rufai administration.

According to the prosecution, the over three billion naira discrepancy was laundered by Saidu, in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.

While counsel for the defendant, M. I. Abubakar, informed the court about a pending bail application and urged the court to grant his client bail after spending 21 days in custody, the prosecution counsel, Professor Nasiru Aliyu, opposed the application.

He argued that the law provides the prosecution with seven days to file a response to the bail application.

Justice Aliyu, in his judgement, ruled that the prosecution be given the time provided by law to file its defence to the bail application.

The case was therefore adjourned until January 23, 2025 for the hearing of the bail application.

Court denies El-Rufai’s ex-Chief of Staff Saidu bail