Ex-Port Harcourt Refinery Boss Arraigned for Money Laundering

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Former managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, Ahmed Dikko, has been arraigned alongside Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited for 12 counts of money laundering. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) makes the move as part of efforts to hold officials accountable for funds spent on refineries. The commission alleges that Dikko used part of the funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire a property in Abuja.

The arraignment took place on Wednesday before Judge Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja. Judge Ekwo subsequently granted Dikko bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety and fixed 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of trial.

Mr Dikko is the immediate past managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited. He was appointed in March 2020 to oversee the federal government's multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation of the state-owned refinery. The charges relate to transactions allegedly carried out between 2022 and 2025, during and after his tenure as managing director of the refinery.

The EFCC alleges that Dikko indirectly made a cash payment equivalent to N218.375 million 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 accused Dikko of laundering alleged proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving payments from contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NPC) Limited, operating accounts used to conceal illicit funds and carrying out large cash transactions contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In a related report, PREMIUM TIMES disclosed that the EFCC recovered more than N9.4 billion and $21.2 million, valued at about N29.26 billion, as well as several landed properties during the investigation. The recoveries brought the total value of cash and assets traced by the commission in the refinery probe to about N38.66 billion.

Judge Ekwo held that the court had the discretion to grant or refuse bail. He added that because bail is a constitutional right, sufficient material must be placed before the court to justify denying an accused person the relief sought.

The EFCC filed money laundering charges against Dikko and the immediate past managing director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, over the alleged diversion of funds approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria's state-owned refineries. Successive governments, including the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration, continued to spend funds on turnaround maintenance of the government-owned refineries when they did not produce any refined products.

The charges were read to Dikko after the prosecution got the nod from the judge. Defence lawyer Ikechukwu Ajunwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), did not oppose the application.