THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has requested a Senior Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, to grant an order for the remand of the National Coordinator, Federal Civil Service Staff with Disabilities Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Alhaji Iliasu Olarewaju Abdul-Rauf in prison custody over his alleged involvement in N1.7 billion fraud.

Abdul-Rauf, currently under arrest by the Commission is alleged to have been involved in multi-million naira corruption scandal bordering on bribery, breach of trust, criminal misappropriation of funds and other fraudulent activities.

After his arrest, a search of his house by operatives of the Commission revealed 14 females aged between 11 and 33 years, locked up in one of the rooms.

The victims have all been evacuated and were handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

The suspect who also is facing multiple charges imposed by ICPC was said to have been a fugitive of the law, having escaped arrest by other security agencies in Nigeria.

He is alleged to have used his position as the National Coordinator of Persons with Disabilities Cooperative Society to hoodwink contractors into donating cash and items such as wheelchairs, crutches as Corporate Social Responsibility for non-existent contracts.

Some of the contractors are said to have paid as much as N50 million as the CSR, while others delivered large numbers of items to him.

The Commission, in the motion filed before the court, stated that Abdul-Rauf allegedly failed to rehabilitate ‘disability centres” across the country after collecting N1.7 billion from various contractors under the guise of awarding contracts for the project.

ICPC further noted that Abdul-Rauf had a history of running from the law, having absconded after an earlier charge had been filed against him by the Commission. The motion, therefore, added that the remand would prevent his escape a second time pending the completion of investigation.