Ex-Warri, Port Harcourt refinery bosses to face EFCC trial over alleged N1.42bn, $989,630 money laundering

Former Managing Directors of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) are set to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over separate allegations of money laundering involving more than N1.42 billion and $989,630.

Court documents filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja indicate that the former Managing Director of WRPC, Jimoh Yisawu, will be arraigned on Friday on an eight-count charge, while Ahmed Dikko, former Managing Director of PHRC, is scheduled to appear before the same court on Wednesday to answer a 12-count charge.

Both cases are assigned to Justice Inyang Ekwo.

According to the charge against Yisawu, the EFCC alleged that between October 2023 and May 2025, he indirectly converted $789,950 through one Samaila Bala, knowing that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.

The anti-graft agency alleged that the money did not form part of his legitimate earnings as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The charge reads in part: “That you, Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, the former Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, between October 2023 and May 2025 in Abuja… indirectly converted the aggregate sum of $789,950 through Samaila Bala… when you knew that the said sum constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.”

The EFCC also accused Yisawu of making cash payments totalling $789,950 to Bala without routing the transactions through any financial institution, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In another count, the Commission alleged that between February 2024 and March 2025, the former refinery boss converted an additional $122,600 through Rasheed Yusuf of Rasheedat Anike Global Ventures using cash transactions conducted outside the banking system.

The charge sheet further alleged that between January and June 2015, Yisawu received N25.56 million into his Zenith Bank and Access Bank accounts from JKpeez Impex Company, identified as a contractor to a subsidiary of the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, despite allegedly having reasonable grounds to suspect the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.

He was also accused of transferring N65.86 million to Cordros Securities Limited for the purchase of treasury bills in his name and retaining N18 million paid into his Stanbic IBTC Bank account by one Olasinka Fragene Justice on behalf of Ebenco Global Link Limited, described by the EFCC as a contractor to NNPC Limited.

In the separate case against Dikko, the EFCC accused the former PHRC Managing Director of engaging in a series of financial transactions between 2022 and 2024 in violation of Nigeria’s anti-money laundering laws.

Among the allegations is that in February 2024, Dikko made a cash payment equivalent to N218.38 million to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of a property located at Plot 558, Abubakar Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja, without using a financial institution.

The Commission further alleged that he retained N100 million and N90 million in separate bank accounts, funds said to have been paid by Ebenco Global Link Limited, a contractor to the Port Harcourt Refining Company.

The EFCC also accused him of concealing the origin of N90 million by routing the money through an Access Bank account allegedly operated by Aisha Ahmed Dikko.

Another count alleged that Dikko, in collaboration with Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, disguised the source of N328.71 million paid into a Guaranty Trust Bank account by OMSA Integrated Services Limited from transactions involving NNPC Limited’s allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export.

He is further accused of receiving N59.2 million through Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, directing Ebenezar Oluwagbemiga of Ebenco Global Link Limited to receive N356.41 million on his behalf, converting $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro, and using his son’s GTBank account to take possession of N20 million allegedly paid by Ebenco Global Link Limited.

The EFCC maintained that the alleged offences violate various provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, as amended.

The two former refinery chiefs are expected to take their pleas when they appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on their respective arraignment dates.