Jos -A 36-year-old man, Nafiu Usman, Thursday, appeared before a Jos Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding a Jos-based Islamic Foundation, Al-Yusra, of N8 million.

Usman, a member of the foundation’s board of trustees, was accused of tricking it into paying the money to him to enable him to “grease the palms’’ of officials and ease the collection of monies pledged to it by some state governments and agencies.

To convince the foundation, Usman allegedly brought a dud Afribank cheque of N75 million as a donation from the Niger State Government and claimed “millions’’ in that respect.

The accused, who is being charged with forgery, criminal breach of trust, cheating and conspiracy, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police First Information Report indicated that the accused had claimed that the Niger State Government raised the said N75 million cheque as part of its support and assistance to the activities of the foundation.

Usman was alleged to have also brought a contract of N3.5 billion from the Ministry of Niger Delta for supplies, with the proceeds expected to be given to the foundation.

He also allegedly pledged to get more donations from four northern governors.

Usman, according to the report, collected N1.9 million to “grease’’ the palms of the secretaries to the governments of the four northern states to get the monies they had promised the foundation.

Trouble, however, started when the Director of the Foundation, Alhaji Mohammed Kabir, tried to cash the cheque from Niger State at the Katako branch of Afribank, Jos, where he was told that it was fake.

With such discovery, the foundation called the Niger Delta Ministry to confirm the authenticity of the N3.5 billion contract letter, and discovered it to be fake as well.

With the deals now in the open, the accused allegedly absconded and was only traced and arrested at Karshi in Abuja 14 months later.

According to the report, only N1.9 million was recovered from the accused through some of his associates.

When the case, which is before Chief Magistrate Ishaku Kundar came up for mention, the defence counsel, Mr Usman Mohammed, and the prosecutor, Yahaya Adamu, argued the prospects for bail for the accused.