*EFCC Places Ex-NNPCL GMD On Watchlist
A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has ordered the temporary freezing of four Jaiz Bank accounts linked to the immediate-past group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, over alleged fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also placed Kyari on its watchlist over ongoing $7.2billion refineries’ turnaround maintenance probe.
Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order on Tuesday, August 19, following an ex-parte motion moved by Counsel to the EFCC, informong the court of ongoing investigations on the matter and that it would need sometime to conclude its findings.
The Judge, in his ruling, held that the application was meritorious and accordingly granted it, saying: “I have listened to Counsel to the applicant and gone through the affidavit evidence with the exhibits and written address attached.
“I found that this application is meritorious and it is hereby granted as prayed.”
The court consequently adjourned the matter until September 23, for report.
The EFCC had, in the motion ex-parte, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1641, filed on August 11, this year, sought an order freezing the bank accounts stated in the schedule on the grounds that the accounts are owned by the suspect (Kyari), “who is currently being investigated in a case involving the offences of conspiracy, abuse of office and money laundering, pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
The accounts include Jaiz Bank account number 0017922724, with account name, Mele Kyari; Jaiz Bank account number 0017922724, with account name, Mele Kyari; Jaiz Bank account number 0018575055, with account name, Guwori Community Dev. Fnd, and Jaiz Bank number 0018575141, with account name, Guwori Community Development Foundation Flood Relief.
The agency argued that the bank accounts were subject matters of investigation by the Commission regarding misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust, adding that preliminary investigation so far showed that the bank accounts are linked to the suspect, who allegedly took advantage of the complainant to be a contract facilitator and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities.
It added that “there is need to preserve the funds in the identified bank accounts, pending the conclusion of investigation and possible prosecution.”
In the affidavit attached to the motion, Amin Abdullahi, an EFCC investigator in the Special Investigation Unit, said the anti-agency received a petition against Kyari, filed by Guardian of Democracy and Rule of Law and dated April 24, this year.
Abdullahi stated that he was a member of the team assigned to investigate the matter, and “upon receipt of the petition, referred to in Paragraph 4 above, my team carried out several investigation activities, which included seeking and obtaining bank records from commercial banks.”
He averred that the investigation so far carried out revealed that “N661,464,601.50, which are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, was warehoused in four different accounts.”
He added: “That, these funds were traced to the suspect, Mele Kyari, who is the former GMD of NNPCL. That the suspect opened various accounts in Jaiz Bank, which has been used to receive suspicious inflows from NNPC and various oil companies that have dealings with NNPC.
“That bank records revealed that these accounts are controlled and managed by Kyari through his family members, who are acting as fronts.
“Further investigation revealed that the said transactions in the various accounts were disguised as payments for a purported book launch and activities of a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
“That the Commission has written to Jaiz Bank, where the accounts referred to are domiciled, for the hard copies of the comprehensive account details. While responses of the bank are being awaited, the Commission has written to post a no debit instruction on the accounts, which will only last for 72 hours.
“That it is in the interest of justice to grant this application.”
It was gathered that there was a breakthrough in investigations into the activities of the NNPCL under Kyari last month after the arrest and interrogation of his close associates on how some funds earmarked for the refineries’ maintenance were managed.
EFCC crack detectives investigating the matter were said to have obtained documents and other necessary information related to how the maintenance funds were disbursed and may soon invite Kyari for questioning.
