Justice EmekaNwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, ordered a temporary freezing of four bank accounts of the immediate past Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), MrMeleKyari.
The freezing of the four accounts in Jaiz Bank, was sequel to ongoing fraud investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The order to freeze the said accounts was issued in a ruling on an exparte application argued by the lawyer, who represented the anti-graft agency, OgechiUjam.
The ex-parte application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1641, though dated August 8, was filed August 11, and specifically sought for the court’s order freezing the bank accounts listed in the schedule.
The applicant persuaded the court to order the temporary freezing of the said accounts, so that the commission would be able to conclude its findings, as investigation was still ongoing.
It was the claim by the EFCC that the four bank accounts belonged to Kyari, “who is currently being investigated in a case involving conspiracy, abuse of office and money laundering, pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
In a short ruling, Justice Nwite held that there was enough reason as shown by the applicant to warrant granting the motion.
“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,” he said.
He subsequently adjourned till September 23, to enable the EFCC conclude and report back to the court.
The affected accounts were Jaiz Bank account number 0017922724 with account name: MeleKyari; Jaiz Bank account number 0018575055 with account name: Guwori Community Development Foundation; and Jaiz Bank account number 0018575141 with account name: Guwori Community Development Foundation Flood Relief.
The anti-graft agency said the application was brought on three grounds, arguing that the bank accounts under investigation were linked to misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust.
It added that preliminary investigation revealed that the accounts were linked to Kyari, who allegedly took advantage of the complainant as a contract facilitator and laundered proceeds of unlawful activities.
“That there is need to preserve the funds in the identified bank accounts pending the conclusion of investigation and possible prosecution,” the EFCC stated.
In an affidavit attached to the motion, Amin Abdullahi, an EFCC investigator attached to the Special Investigation (SIS) Unit, said the agency received a petition dated April 24 from the Guardian of Democracy and Rule of Law against Kyari.
He said he was part of the team assigned to investigate the matter.
“That 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 said.
Abdullahi said the probe also involved obtaining corporate details from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) concerning bodies linked to the case, as well as inviting and interviewing individuals and company representatives.
The investigator revealed that about N661,464,601.50 suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities were traced to four different accounts.
He added that the funds were traced to Kyari, who allegedly opened multiple accounts in Jaiz Bank used to receive suspicious inflows from the NNPC and various oil companies.
According to him, records further revealed that the accounts were controlled by Kyari through family members acting as fronts.
