The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the temporary freezing of four Jaiz Bank accounts linked to the immediate-past Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, over alleged fraud.
The ruling was delivered on Tuesday by Justice Emeka Nwite, following an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its counsel, Ogechi Ujam.
The EFCC argued that the accounts needed to be frozen to allow investigators conclude ongoing probes into financial irregularities allegedly connected to Kyari.
“I have listened to the counsel for the applicant and gone through the affidavit evidence with the exhibits and written address attached. I found that this application is meritorious and it is hereby granted as prayed,” the judge held.
On August 11, 2025, the EFCC filed the motion ex parte before the court to seek an order freezing the bank accounts because the accounts are owned by Kyari, “who is currently being investigated in a case involving the offences of conspiracy, abuse of office and money laundering pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
In the affidavit attached to the ex parte, Amin Abdullahi, an EFCC investigator attached to the Special Investigation Unit, said the commission received and investigated a petition dated April 24 and filed by a group, the Guardian of Democracy and Rule of Law, against Kyari.
He said he was a member of the team assigned to investigate the petition.
“Upon receipt of the petition referred to in Paragraph 4 above, my team carried out several investigation activities which included seeking and obtaining bank records from commercial Banks,” he said.
He said the preliminary investigations found that two of the bank accounts carry the name of Mele Kyari, while the other two have the name of a non-governmental organisation, Guwori Community Development Foundation Flood Relief.
The accounts were listed as: “Jaiz Bank account number: 0017922724 with account name: Mele Kyari; Jaiz Bank account number: 0017922724 with account name: Mele Kyari; Jaiz Bank account number: 0018575055 and Jaiz Bank number: 0018575141 with both account names as Guwori Community Development Foundation Flood Relief.”
The anti-graft agency argued that the bank accounts in respect of which the reliefs are sought are subject matters of investigation by the Commission about misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust.
The anti-graft agency also said that the preliminary investigation conducted thus far revealed that the bank accounts are linked to Mr Kyari, who has been using them to receive suspicious inflows from NNPC and various oil companies that have dealings with NNPC.
“That bank records further revealed that these accounts are controlled and managed by Mr Kyari through his family members who are acting as fronts,” he said.
Abdullahi also said the investigation so far carried out revealed “that N661,464,601.50, which are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, were warehoused in four different accounts.
“These funds were traced to Mele Kolo Kyari, who is the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“Further investigation revealed that the said transactions in the various accounts were disguised as payments for a purported book launch and activities of a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
“That the Commission has written to Jaiz Bank, where the accounts referred to are domiciled, for the hard copies of the comprehensive account details. While the response of the Bank is being awaited, the Commission has written to post a “no debit” instruction on the accounts, which will only last for 72 hours.
“That I was informed by M.A. Babatunde Esq., learned counsel to the Applicant during official briefing at EFCC Headquarters, and I verily believe him that an order of this honourable court is necessary to freeze the said accounts clearly described in schedule 1 to the motion paper, while investigation is ongoing.
It also said, “That there is a need to preserve the funds in the identified bank accounts pending the conclusion of the investigation and possible prosecution”.
“That it is in the interest of justice to grant this application”.
(Channels)
