How Nigerian Bank Official, Chinese Expatriates Defrauded Two Companies with N17bn Dubious Loan*
Two Chinese citizens, Liu Yangxi and Ma Zhuang, have conspired with a Nigerian Bank official to defraud two Nigerian ceramic companies and its director.
People’s Gazette gathered that the Bank official, together with Liu and Ma, fraudulently obtained a total loan of N17bn on behalf of BN Ceramic Industry Limited and NB Ceramic Limited, and Zhang Qide, a director and shareholder in the aforementioned ceramic firms.
The loans, secretly obtained without the knowledge of the Nigerian companies, were disbursed to Liu, between November 4, 2021 and August 31, 2023.
Credible documents also indicated that the official, who is the Bank’s Branch Manager in Lokoja, received over N100,000,000 as kickbacks for ‘facilitating’ the N17bn loan dubiously obtained by Liu and his accomplices.
Investigation by this newspaper revealed that Liu, like Zhang Qide, holds positions as a shareholder and director at the Ceramic firms. But Ma is related to Liu by family ties.
Checks indicated that the predicament of the Nigerian ceramic companies and its director, Zhang Qide, began with Liu, without proper consultation or approval from the management, directors, and shareholders of BN Ceramic Ltd orchestrated, with the assistance of Ma and the official, the acquisition of a N3 billion loan from this Bank.
“Liu, in collaboration with Ma, falsified Zhang Qide’s signature on the loan documents, including the Offer of Credit Facility and the approving board resolution. Additionally, Liu engaged in criminal conduct by falsely presenting himself as the managing director of both BN Ceramic Industry Limited and NB Ceramic Limited.
“He proceeded to pledge/charge all fixed and floating assets of the BN Ceramic Industry Limited and NB Ceramics limited, including its machinery and equipment, as collateral for the loan, without proper authorization from the respective boards and shareholders of both companies.
“Upon the approval and disbursement of the N3 billion loan into NB Ceramic Limited’s account, Liu paid N69,900,000 as kickback to the Bank official, and also cleared the bank fees. Thereafter, without obtaining necessary consent or adhering to the company’s approved procedures, Liu immediately transferred the remaining N2.68 billion balance to the companies he controls. One of the companies, Wetech Industry Ltd got N0.3 billion. The second company, Pure Biotech Company Limited got N0.71 billion; while the third company, CBC Oil & Gas Services Ltd received N1.67 billion. After the accounts of the three companies were credited, Liu quickly laundered the funds into Chinese Yuan and transferred them to his personal account in China, all without informing or gaining approval from the board,” a staff of NB Ceramic Limited, who craved anonymity.
The anonymous staff, then continued: “In the pursuit of his criminal activities, Liu collaborated with a member of his criminal group, to establish a shell company named Wetech Industry Limited. In this arrangement, Liu and Lu Hao, represented by one Bello Musa as a front, held 45% and 55% of the shell company’s shares, respectively.
Additionally, Liu conspired with Lu Hao to secure a “Custom Clearance and Inland Transportation for the Second Lot of AKK Project” with BRENTEX CPP Ltd. This contract served as the basis for securing a loan of N6 billion again from the same Bank, with assistance from their insider. Evidence showed that Liu pledged all fixed and floating assets of the BN Ceramic Industry Limited and NB Ceramics limited, including its machinery and equipment, as collateral for the loan, without proper authorization from the respective boards and shareholders of both companies. It is necessary to point out that the loan duration is from 30 August 2022 to 30 August 2026, but the service contract of the loan expired on January 29, 2024. Right now, the company has no fixed assets as all its vehicles during the loan contract period were leased.
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“Subsequently, Liu laundered the funds by generating fake proforma invoices with the aid of the official and Ma, then transferred the funds offshore without engaging in any legitimate contracts. On August 31, 2023, Liu obtained an additional loan from the Bank, amounting to a total sum of N8 billion through his Shell Company – Wetech Industry Limited purportedly to finance the construction of a fictitious ethanol facility claiming it has an annual capacity of 72,912,000Ltrs output in Makurdi, Benue State”.
“Upon the approval and disbursement of the N8 billion loan into Wetech Industry Limited’s account, Liu immediately transferred N6 billion to Pure Biotech Company Limited where the shared moneys were converted into Chinese Yuan and transferred to their personal accounts”.
Meanwhile, Pure Biotech Company Limited, a cassava processing plant located at Kilometer 10, Gboko Road, linked to Liu, was reported to have directly discharged wastewater into River Benue in April 2023, which affected the quality of water and aquatic life in the river and across Benue State. In reaction, the Benue State Government sealed the company for one month. Again, in April 2024, a welder died at the company in Makurdi as a result of poor safety operational measures. The source further alleges that “The company has not stopped its discharge of sewage to date, continuing to commit the illegal act secretly at night. Other crimes committed by Pure Biotech includes an alcohol plant tank explosion incident that occurred in 2024 that led to one fatality and one severe injury.
Another unprecedented allegation made by the source was that “Pure Biotech Company Limited is currently under investigation for evading Value Added Tax worth over N3billion and Company Income Tax worth over N4billion between 2022 to 2024”.
“In this endeavor to secure a loan, Liu once again misrepresented himself as the managing director of both BN Ceramic Industry Ltd and NB Ceramic Ltd, falsifying the Zhang Qide’s signature on all necessary documentation.
“Following the acquisition of this loan, Liu, with the assistance of the same Bank official and Ma, engaged in further laundering of the funds, transferring them offshore without initiating any legitimate projects”.
Upon uncovering the fraudulent activities perpetrated by Liu and his associates, Politics Digest learnt that, through their legal counsel, the managements of BN Ceramic Industry and NB Ceramic Ltd, contacted the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bank on February 2, 2024.
However, the bank has failed to address their complaint, several months after. It was also gathered that the Bank’s management has also not investigated or reported the crime involving their Lokoja Branch Manager and Liu, to relevant anti-graft authorities.
But a credible source told Politics Digest that the ceramic firms, have already forwarded a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, while also involving the petition to the Department of State Services, DSS, in the case.
Part of the petition as obtained by our correspondent reads: “It is evident that both the Bank and its Assets Management Arm lack genuine intentions to protect the Nigerian banking system or the funds of depositors. They have allowed fraudsters, who, regrettably, happen to be non-Nigerians, to exploit the pretext of establishing businesses or executing projects to unlawfully siphon funds entrusted to the bank by Nigerian depositors.
“This situation raises serious national security concerns. The petitioners are deeply concerned that this may be just one instance of many frauds perpetrated against the Nigerian banking system. If left unchecked, such fraudulent activities could potentially precipitate a financial crisis”.
Also speaking, another legal representative of the Nigerian firms who preferred anonymity, explained that the financial crime perpetrated by the Bank officials and the “dubious” Chinese nationals is not affecting their ‘clients’ alone, but also threatening Nigeria’s economy and national security.
“It is an act of economic sabotage. This incident has raised doubts on the sincerity of stakeholders in our financial sector and banking sector. At a time, our economy is battling various challenges, it is worrisome that foreigners can come into our land unchecked, falsify documents and defraud legal operating businesses to the tune of billions of naira.
“So, it appears like there is a problem of poor regulation in our banking industry. As such, we are calling on law-enforcement agencies, and the Central Bank of Governor to really look into this issue and several others like this, which are happening,” he said.
People’s Gazette
