The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned former Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC), Jimoh Yisawu, at the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged money laundering.
After Mr Yisawu pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him, Judge Inyang Ekwo granted him bail in the sum of N500 million with one surety.
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The arraignment came weeks after an earlier attempt to bring Mr Yisawu before the court stalled on 8 July because Judge Ekwo did not sit.
In the charges filed on 22 June by EFCC lawyer Ekele Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the anti-graft agency alleged that Mr Yisawu laundered proceeds of unlawful activity while serving as managing director of the refinery and used part of the funds to purchase treasury bills.
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Bail
After the defendant pleaded not guilty, Mr Iheanacho applied for a date for the commencement of trial.
But defence lawyer Wale Balogun, also a SAN, subsequently sought and obtained the court’s permission to move Mr Yisawu’s bail application.
Although the prosecution opposed the application, Judge Ekwo granted the defendant bail after holding that the alleged offences were bailable.
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The judge granted Mr Yisawu to bail in the sum of N500 million with one surety in the like sum.
He ordered that the surety must be a responsible citizen who owns landed property within the court’s jurisdiction.
The property’s title documents must also be verified by the court registrar.
Judge Ekwo further directed Mr Yisawu to deposit his international passport with the court and ordered that he must not travel outside Nigeria without the court’s permission.
The judge ordered that, pending the perfection of the bail conditions, the defendant be remanded in the custody of the EFCC.
The judge thereafter adjourned the case until 25, 26 and 27 October for the commencement of trial.
The charges
The EFCC alleged that between October 2023 and May 2025, Mr Yisawu indirectly converted $789,950 through one Samaila Bala.
The commission alleged that the money did not form part of his known lawful earnings as a former public officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), formerly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.
In another count, the EFCC alleged that within the same period, Mr Yisawu made cash payments exceeding the statutory threshold, amounting to $789,950, to Samaila Bala without passing the funds through a financial institution.
The commission also alleged that between February 2024 and March 2025, Mr Yisawu indirectly converted $122,600 through Rasheed Olaitan Yusuf of Rasheedat Anike Global Ventures. It alleged that the money did not form part of his lawful earnings and represented proceeds of unlawful activity.
In count five, the EFCC alleged that Mr Yisawu retained N25.563 million paid into his Zenith Bank and Access Bank accounts by JKpeez Impex Co., a contractor to a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), when he reasonably ought to have known that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.
The commission further alleged that on 21 February 2024, Mr Yisawu transferred N65.86 million to Cordros Securities Limited to purchase treasury bills for himself with funds he reasonably ought to have known were proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to the EFCC, the alleged offences contravene provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported on 29 June that the EFCC filed money laundering charges against Mr Yisawu and former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, over the alleged diversion of funds approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.
The commission accused the two former refinery chiefs of laundering alleged proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving payments from contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) operating accounts used to conceal illicit funds and carrying out large cash transactions contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Similarly, PREMIUM TIMES reported 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.
On 8 July, Mr Dikko was arraigned before the same judge on a 12-count charge.
Judge Ekwo subsequently granted him bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety and fixed 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of trial.
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