The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it has uncovered 189 fake companies used to secure land allocations in the Federal Capital Territory.
This was made known by the Registrar-General of CAC, Hussaini Magaji, during a press briefing on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, in Abuja, where he stated that a syndicate of criminals which specialised in operating numerous unregistered companies was arrested by the commission.
Magaji stated that the discovery was made following a complaint from the Federal Capital Territory Administration to verify the status of a non-existing company seeking land allocation.
He explained that the discovery of the non-existent company led him to investigate further, resulting in the identification of other companies.
Bursting of the syndicate
Magaji said, “One of the milestone achievement upon my assumption of duty is our ability to burst a ring of criminals that are creating havoc in the commission.
“About 189 fake companies have been identified to be used by these group of persons to secure lands.
“We discovered that these non existing entities collaborate with lawyers who claim to be accredited agents with the commission.
“They collaborate with some staff of the Abuja Geographical Information System, (AGIS), manage their way to make applications at the AGIS and take priority over existing applications.
“With the collaboration of security agents we arrested the suspect who have volunteered some informations.’’
He said the suspect was arrested due a complain from the FCTA asking the commission to verify some applications made by some entities.
He said, “The nature of their crime is that they create a fake entity and apply for land at the FCTA and manoeuvre their way to have a priority application over an existing application. To take over the land and they have succeeded severally in the past.’’
