The immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, has been interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission operatives over alleged financial misconduct during his tenure.
According to a source, who didn’t want to be named, Kyari was still at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja at the time of filing this report.
“He is here with our investigators at the moment. This is all I can confirm for now,” a source told Daily Champion last night.
Kyari was reportedly invited by the commission to explain issues surrounding financial transactions while he was in charge 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.
However, the interrogation 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.
Similarly, 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, supervised a period of some reforms, including the transition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into a limited liability company.
