Police investigations have revealed how members of a syndicate led by international fraudster, Hushpuppi, paid ₦235, 120, 000 to a younger brother of the suspended DCP, Abba Kyari.
The probe also indicated that Kyari equally funneled ₦44million to his brother’s bank account in multiple transactions. However, according to reports, the investigation report failed to disclose whether Kyari’s brother was acting as a proxy for his embattled elder brother who is currently in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA over alleged drug trafficking.
The investigation report which was submitted to the Attorney-General of the Federation disclosed that a total of ₦279.120million flowed to the bank account of Kyari’s brother at various times from the cyber scam syndicate members-Efe Martins (lead coordinator), Sikiru Adekoya, Usman Ibrahim, and Hussaini Ala.
The probe documents read in parts: “Sikiru Adekoya has many times received money from Hushpuppi and Efe and has equally transferred money to Usman Ibrahim. Adekoya after initially denying having any financial transaction with both Hushpuppi and Efe Martins eventually admitted receiving various sums of money through transfers into his GTBank. However, he could not offer reasonable explanations of what the sums were meant for and what he did with the monies.
“A junior brother to DCP Kyari is a major beneficiary of funds from the Zenith Bank account of Hussaini Ala from where he at different times received various sums totaling N218, 120, 000. He also received the sum of N44m in multiple transactions from DCP Abba Kyari.”.
Police report
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Panel (SIP), which authored the report did not invite or interrogate Kyari’s brother about the huge sums of money deposited into his bank account by the fraud syndicate and the DCP.
In its recommendations, the Force Disciplinary Committee (FDC), which reviewed the SIP investigation report, indicted Kyari for violating the social media policy of the Nigeria Police Force by responding to the Federal Bureau of Intelligence’s indictment on his Facebook page without recourse to laid down procedures.
The Committee also accused Kyari of hobnobbing with fraudulent characters, violating the police professional ethics. For hobnobbing with fraudulent characters and violating the police professional ethics, the committee punished Kyari by reducing his rank from DCP to ACP, stating “the evidence of (₦8milion) bribe is circumstantial in that the bribe mainly was not paid into the officer’s account nor was any proceeds of the bribe traced by the panel much less linking the officer to any such proceeds”.
The FDC further noted that there was no evidence of direct fund transfer from either Hushpuppi or Efe into any of Kyari’s accounts “but there were records of various funds transfers totaling ₦17million which originated from Efe Martins into the accounts of Usman Waziri, Hussaini Ala, and brother of DCP Kyari.
Read also: Ghana Beyond Aid: Revise Mining Fiscal Regime As Stipulated in Charter To Shore Up Mineral Revenues