According to the AGF, Kyari was never exonerated in the money laundering case involving his ties to Ramon Abbas, alias Hushpuppi, an international wire fraudster suspect.
Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, the AGF’s special assistant on media and public relations, said there appears to be a misunderstanding regarding the matter.
”It was a case of work in progress in respect of which the office of the attorney general of the federation requested further probe in relation to some aspects of the investigation”, he said.
Gwandu said that the conclusion reached regarding the supposed dispute on the matter was a clear example of a misunderstanding.
”The Office of the Attorney-general of the Federation and Minister of Justice’s stance is that no conclusion has been reached in the absence of evidence relating to the first report.
”The issues were raised for further investigation with a view to cover the field in the investigation in order to arrive at an informed decision”, he added.
At the weekend, there were reports that the office of the AGF had made a u-turn in the case of Abba Kyari.
Last week, the office of the AGF, which in its first legal advice admitted that a prima-facie case of money laundering of 33 payments was established by the late DIG Joseph Egbunike-led Special Investigation Panel (SIP) against Kyari, has now said there are no links with Kyari following further investigations.
Kyari and others are at present facing criminal charges in court over-involvement in drugs and money laundering allegations.
The new legal advice with reference number, DPPA/LA/814/21, written on behalf of the AGF by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, emphasized that the evidence contained in the case diary showed no link between DCP Abba Kyari and Hushpuppi.
It said the evidence contained in the case diary ‘was not sufficient to indicate or show that the said monies (N279 million) were laundered directly or indirectly by Kyari to disguise their origin’ adding that ‘the police report on the investigation failed to probe the gaps identified in their investigation by the AGF office.
The advice entitled ‘Re: Forwarding of the investigation report of the Nigeria Police Force Special Investigation Team and request for legal advice with regards to allegations of criminal conspiracy, aiding and abetting Internet fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering against DCP Abba Kyari’ was addressed to IGP Usman Alkali Baba.
The new legal advice reads, “I am directed to inform you that after a careful study of the said response wherein you stated that ‘the monies have been traced to Zenith Bank account no. 2255416115 belonging to Usman Ibrahim Waziri; Guaranty Trust Bank account no. 0130665392 belonging to Adekoya Sikiru; Zenith Bank account no. 2080537566 belonging to Hussein Ala and other funds went to Sharon Festus. The monies were withdrawn and utilized by the aforementioned account holders and the lady
”It is our view that the above response has not linked the suspect, DCP Abba Kyari, to the offense of money laundering as the evidence contained in the case diary is not sufficient to indicate or show that the said monies were laundered directly or indirectly by Kyari to disguise their origin, more so that the aforementioned recipients or receivers exonerated him in their statements as having nothing to do with the monies.”
