- Safiu Kehinde
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Umar Isa, and former Managing Director of the Warri Refinery, Jimoh Olasunkanmi,
over alleged $7.2 billion fraud.
The fund was reportedly tied to the rehabilitation of the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries.
Also arrested by the commission were Tunde Bakare, Managing Director of the Warri Refinery; Ahmed Dikko, a former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery; and Ibrahim Onoja, another former Managing Director of the same facility.
The EFCC had commenced investigations over Isa’s role in the release of th funds for the turnaround maintenance of the three refineries.
The ex-NNPCL officials were also accused of abuse of office, corruption, and diversion of funds.
According to report, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, had last week raised the alarm over discrepancies involving trillions of naira in the audited financial statements of the NNPCL, describing the revelations as mind-boggling and worrisome.
The committee noted that the concerns stem directly from the analysis of NNPCL’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023.
It immediately handed over a list of 11 queries to NNPCL finance team and gave them one week to return with answers.