Alleged fraud: EFCC grills ex-NNPCL boss Kyari

Kyari

The immediate past Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, is currently being interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged financial misconduct during his tenure.

Sources within the anti-graft agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to our correspondent that Kyari is at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

“He is here with our investigators at the moment. This is all I can confirm for now,” one of the sources said.

Kyari was reportedly invited by the commission to clarify issues surrounding financial transactions while he was at the helm of the state-owned oil company.The EFCC’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report.

The development comes against the backdrop of ongoing investigations into alleged irregularities in the management of billions of dollars earmarked for Nigeria’s ailing refineries.

Kyari had earlier been placed on the EFCC’s watch list in connection with a $7.2 billion refinery’s turnaround maintenance project.

In a related move, the Federal High Court in Abuja recently ordered a temporary freezing of four bank accounts linked to the former NNPCL chief, pending further investigations into allegations of fraud.

Kyari, who served as GMD of the NNPCL from 2019 until his replacement in July 2024, oversaw a period of some reforms, including the transition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into a limited liability company. Punch