The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed separate money laundering cases against two former refinery chiefs, with the ex-Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, Jimoh Yisawu, scheduled for arraignment on Friday, while the former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd, Ahmed Dikko, is expected to appear before the court on Wednesday.
According to The Punch, the cases, bordering on alleged laundering of hundreds of millions of naira and hundreds of thousands of dollars, are before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Court documents show that Yisawu is facing eight counts, while Dikko is standing trial on 12 counts over transactions allegedly carried out between 2022 and 2025.
The first charge against Yisawu alleged that between October 2023 and May 2025, he indirectly converted a total of $789,950 through one Samaila Bala.
“That you, Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, the former Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, between October 2023 and May 2025 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, indirectly converted the aggregate sum of $789,950 through Samaila Bala, which amount did not form part of your known lawful earnings as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (formerly Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation), when you knew that the said sum of $789,950 constituted proceeds of unlawful activity, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(b) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022,” it read.
The anti-graft agency further alleged in Count Two that Yisawu made several cash payments exceeding the legal threshold, amounting to a combined $789,950, to Samaila Bala without routing the funds through any financial institution, contrary to provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The charge sheet also accused him of indirectly converting another $122,600 through Rasheed Yusuf of Rasheedat Anike Global Ventures between February 2024 and March 2025, with the transactions allegedly carried out in cash outside the banking system.
Another count alleged that Yisawu received and used N25,563,000 paid into his Zenith Bank and Access Bank accounts by Jkpeez Impex Co., a contractor linked to a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
“That you Jimoh Yisawu, the former Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, between January and June 2015 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, used the aggregate sum of N25,563,000 received into your Zenith Bank Plc Account No. 1003198602 and Access Bank Plc Account No. 0001283432 from Jkpeez Impex Co. (a contractor with subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd) when you reasonably ought to have known that the said sum constituted proceed of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(d) and punishable under section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended,” it added.
Other allegations against Yisawu include transferring N65.86m to Cordros Securities Limited for the purchase of treasury bills in his name, as well as retaining N15m and N3m allegedly paid into his Stanbic IBTC Bank account by Olasinka Fragene Justice on behalf of Ebenco Global Link Limited, described as a contractor to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
In Dikko’s case, the EFCC accused the former Port Harcourt refinery boss of multiple money laundering offences captured in a 12-count charge.
One of the charges alleged that in February 2024, he made a cash payment equivalent to N218,375,000 to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of Plot 558, Abubakar Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja, without passing the funds through a financial institution.
The commission also alleged that Dikko retained N100m and N90m in separate bank accounts from funds received from Ebenco Global Link Limited, a contractor to the Port Harcourt Refining Company, and concealed the origin of N90m through an Access Bank account operated by Aisha Ahmed Dikko.
According to Count Eight, Dikko and Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited allegedly disguised the source of N328,710,337.50 paid into a GTBank account by OMSA Integrated Services Limited from transactions involving the allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export by NNPC Limited.
The remaining counts accused him of taking possession of N59.2m routed through Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, directing Ebenezar Oluwagbemiga of Ebenco Global Link Limited to receive N356,412,500 on his behalf, converting $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro, and using his son’s GTBank account to control N20m allegedly paid by Ebenco Global Link Limited.
According to the charge sheets, all the alleged offences violate various provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as well as the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended).
