The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned former managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, for money laundering.
Mr Dikko appeared before Judge Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja to face 12 charges of money laundering.
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The EFCC arraigned him alongside Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
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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.
In the charges filed on 22 June by EFCC’s prosecution lawyer Ekele Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the anti-graft agency alleged that Mr Dikko used part of the funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire a property in Abuja.
Mr Dikko is the immediate past managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited.
PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported on 29 June that the EFCC filed money laundering charges against Mr 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.
The report also showed that Mr Yisawu was separately arraigned on eight counts before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on 22 June.
The prosecution forms part of the EFCC’s wider efforts to hold erring officials accountable for funds released for the rehabilitation and turnaround maintenance of the country’s 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 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 (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.
Court grants Dikko bail
The charges were read to Mr 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.
He urged the court to enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of the second defendant, which is a company.
Mr Dikko pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts.
Mr Ajunwa subsequently moved his client’s bail application filed on 3 July and anchored on Sections 34(4) and 36 of the Constitution and Sections 156 and 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
He urged the court to grant bail, arguing that Mr Dikko had complied with the conditions of the administrative bail earlier granted by the EFCC by reporting to the commission as required. He also submitted that the defendant would neither abscond nor interfere with the trial.
Opposing the application, Mr Iheanacho cited the counter-affidavit filed on 7 July against the bail application.
In his ruling, 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.
Judge Ekwo consequently grsnted Mr Dikko bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety.
He ordered that the surety must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction, be a responsible citizen and submit the title documents of the property for verification by the court registrar.
Judge Ekwo also directed Mr Dikko to deposit his international passport with the court and ordered that he must not travel outside Nigeria without the court’s permission.
Judge Ekwo thereafter adjourned the case until 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of trial.
The charges
Mr Dikko was appointed managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited 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.
In the first count, the EFCC alleged that in February 2024, Mr 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 alleged that the transaction contravened Sections 2(1)(a) and 19(1)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and is punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.
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In the second count, the EFCC alleged that between 21 and 25 October 2022, Mr Dikko retained N100 million in Fidelity Bank account number 4020827615, which he operated. According to the commission, the money formed part of payments made to him by Ebenco Global Link Limited, a contractor to PHRC under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which he allegedly knew constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.
Count three alleged that between 7 December 2022 and 19 December 2023, Mr Dikko retained N90 million in his Guaranty Trust Bank account, being part of funds allegedly received from Ebenco Global Link Limited.
The EFCC further alleged in count five that on or about 20 May 2022, Mr Dikko took control of N30 million paid through Guaranty Trust Bank account number 0158257115, operated by Medinus Mildred Oluba. It alleged that the payment came from Ebenco Enterprises, a business name linked to a contractor to PHRC.
In count eight, the commission alleged that on or about 26 June 2023, Mr Dikko disguised the origin of N328,710,337.50 paid into Guaranty Trust Bank account number 0123201507, operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited. The EFCC alleged that OMSA Integrated Services Limited paid the money from transactions involving NNPCL’s allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export and that Mr Dikko knew it represented proceeds of unlawful activity.
The commission also alleged that between August 2023 and January 2024, Mr Dikko took possession of N59.2 million through his Guaranty Trust Bank account from funds allegedly paid by OMSA Integrated Services Limited to Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited.
In count 10, the EFCC alleged that between June 2022 and January 2023, Mr Dikko procured Ebenezar Oluwagbemiga of Ebenco Global Link Limited to receive N356,412,500 on his behalf when he reasonably ought to have known that the money represented proceeds of unlawful activity.
Count 11 alleged that between October 2022 and May 2025, Mr Dikko converted a total of $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro. The commission alleged that the money did not form part of his known lawful earnings as a public officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, formerly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
In the last count, the EFCC alleged that between 22 December 2022 and 11 April 2023, Mr Dikko indirectly took control of N20 million through Guaranty Trust Bank account number 0233656547, operated by his son, Ahmed Ahmed Dikko.
The commission alleged that the money constituted proceeds of unlawful activity and is punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
