A Nigerian-born engineer, Adebanjo “Banjo” Popoola, has pleaded guilty in the United States to diverting about $1.64 million meant for repairing rundown buildings into accounts controlled by himself and his family.
The 57-year-old, a former building inspector with the City of St. Louis, Missouri, admitted to three counts of wire fr@ud in a U.S. District Court on June 30.
According to prosecutors, Popoola ab¥sed his role overseeing the city’s Stable Communities STL and Prop NS rehabilitation programmes by steering lucrative contracts to two companies secretly linked to his family.
His sister, who lived in Texas and had never visited St. Louis, set up Farst Construction LLC, while his future wife owned Premier Finish Contractors LLC. Together, the firms received more than $3.3 million in city contracts, accounting for about 42% of all funds disbursed under one of the programmes.
Authorities said several projects were either poorly executed or never completed, but Popoola falsely certified the work as finished, allowing the companies to receive payment.
