Ex-NHIS Boss and BDC Operator Convicted in $2.2 Million Fraud Case

Lagos, Nigeria – A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has convicted Dr. Olufemi Martins Thomas, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and Kabiru Sidi, a Bureau De Change operator, for their involvement in a $2,198,900.00 fraud case . Justice Ayokunle Faji delivered the judgment on Thursday, July 24, 2025 .

Thomas was found guilty of transacting beyond the legal threshold without using a financial institution and was sentenced to a fine of N10,000,000.00 . However, he was discharged on five other counts of the seven-count charge he faced . Sidi was convicted for making a false statement to an investigating officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and received a fine of N100,000.00 .

The EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 had brought an amended seven-count charge against Thomas and Sidi, primarily bordering on money laundering . Six of the counts against Thomas involved money laundering and the cash transfer of proceeds from unlawful activities, which violated the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 . Sidi’s charge was specifically for making false statements to an EFCC official .

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The prosecution alleged that on or about July 3, 2015, Thomas, also known as Dr. Ike, procured his wife, Mrs. Femi Thomas, to conceal the illicit origin of the $2,198,900 . The charge against Sidi stated that on July 15, 2015, at the EFCC office in Ikoyi, he falsely claimed to have given over two million US dollars to Bamidele Ibiteye .

Both defendants pleaded not guilty, leading to a full trial . During the trial, the prosecution called six witnesses . An appellate court had previously overruled Thomas’s no-case submission, asserting that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against him . Thomas had argued that the funds were legitimately acquired through his farming businesses, providing his financial statements as evidence . The prosecution emphasized that money laundering cases require transactions to go through financial institutions to ensure transparency, as mandated by Section 1 of the Money Laundering Act .