The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given an insight into how the Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Transportation and Construction Services Ltd, Babagana Dalori, built a N7billion Ponzi scheme over seven years. The bubble has now burst. Dalori was arrested Wednesday and 27,400 Nigerians have lost their investments. Dalori had lured them into investing in his companies, promising irresistible returns.
The commission’s acting publicity secretary, Tony Orilade, said Dalori took off with his Ponzi idea, by incorporating a firm in 2012, with the asset being a tricycle (Keke NAPEP). By pooling investments from members of the public, the firm later boasted of 50 tricycles.
“The entrepreneur later diversified into other business ventures while promising mouth-watering returns to investors. The commission’s investigators discovered that Dalori initially paid 200 per cent interest on investors’ deposits in the firm and later reduced the interest to 135 per cent before the scheme crashed in 2018.
“To get as many unsuspecting victims into his Ponzi net, Dalori engaged in massive advertisements on radio and television, including a production of a movie by A-list Nollywood actors. Unfortunately, his gimmicks paid off as different people took their hard-earned savings, inheritance, pensions and other sources of income and invested in Galaxy.
“Now, the scheme has crashed and investors can no longer get their money. At the moment, he has used the investors’ money to incorporate different entities without getting their consent. He now has Galaxy Global Energy Concept Ltd, Galaxy Miners Concept Ltd, Galaxy Global Farms, Galaxy Computers, Galaxy Block Making Factory, Galaxy Hospital and Galaxy Hotel.”
A statement released by the EFCC stated that Dalori initially paid investors a 200% interest before he reduced the interest to 135%. He pushed his scheme to a wide audience through advertisements on radio and television. He also got A-list Nollywood actors to act in a movie called “Zero Hour” that sought to help convince members of the public to invest in his companies.
The Galaxy boss, who is undergoing interrogation at EFCC, used the money from investors to diversify into other business ventures. Dalori and his company have committed a criminal act punishable by the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, according to the EFCC.
“At the moment, all bank accounts belonging to Galaxy have been frozen in order to prevent further dissipation of investors’ funds, pending the conclusion of investigation,” the statement said.
