The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating Mele Kyari, the erstwhile group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, over alleged financial misappropriation.
A source within the EFCC said that the ex-NNPC boss was being interrogated regarding alleged financial misappropriation of funds for maintenance of the three state-owned refineries during his tenure.
“We’re grilling him as to alleged financial misappropriation regarding the maintenance of the three refineries when he was there,” the source said.
“It’s been an ongoing investigation, and we invited him, and he came. He is still with the EFCC.”
The development comes days after the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the temporary freezing of four Jaiz Bank accounts linked to Mele Kyari over allegations of fraud.
Justice Emeka Nwite made the order after the EFCC’s lawyer, Ogechi Ujam, moved an ex parte motion to that effect.
Kyari’s troubles followed the alarm raised by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, alleging discrepancies involving trillions of Naira in the audited financial statements of NNPCL.
The Committee described the revelations as mind-boggling and worrisome, emphasizing that the concerns stem from its analysis of NNPCL’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023.
The committee immediately handed over a list of 11 queries to the NNPCL finance team with a one-week deadline for response.
That was months after President Bola Tinubu approved the reconstitution of the NNPCL board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.
The restructuring affected all other board members appointed alongside Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.
On June 24, the anti-graft agency arrested Umar Isa, a former chief financial officer (CFO) of the NNPC, related to an alleged $7.2 billion fraud connected to the rehabilitation of the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries.
