EFCC arrests NAHCON chairman over FG's N90bn Hajj subsidy alleged fraud

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has detained Jalal Arabi, the Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, and Abdullahi Kontagora, the commission’s secretary.

They were arrested in connection to alleged misuse of the N90 billion 2024 Hajj subsidy provided by the Federal Governmemt.

A document indicated that the EFCC recovered SR314,098 from Jalal Arabi and other senior commission officers.

The EFCC investigations indicated that from the total amount of N90 billion Hajj subsidy, the chairman of the commission overpaid himself, including some other necessary operations costs.

The document also stated that the 2024 Hajj Operational cost for the Chairman/CEO Commissioners, Secretary and Directors/Chief of Staff in the 2024 budget stood at 4,250, $12,750, $3,825 and $15,300, respectively.

However, the EFFC found that the chairman of the commission had skyrocketed the amount paid to himself, the commissioners, the secretary, and other directors, which was a fraudulent act.

According to the document, the chairman was meant to get SR15,929, but a total of SR50,000 was paid to him, and the commissioners who were to be paid SR 15,929 each fraudulently got SR 40,000.

The secretary also got SR 30,000 against the stipulated SR14,336, and the Directors/Chief of Staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR2,550 due to them. The total amount recovered from all the suspects stands at SR314,098.

The commission’s chairman was said to have been questioned for hours on July 29, 2024, but was subsequently released by the EFCC on bail.

After the questioning, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on Wednesday also arrested some senior officials of the commission over an alleged diversion of the N90 billion subsidy.

A source at the EFFC headquarters indicated that the NAHCON Chairman was invited on Wednesday for questioning, but this time, he was not allowed to leave the EFFC premises; he was detained by officials.

The source emphasized that the officials engaged the Secretary and Chairman over the diversion of the N90bn subsidy.

A document has also shown that SR 8,614,175.27, which was taken out of the N90bn released by the Federal Government to the commission, was missing, which has caused a major controversy with the commission.

The document disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria had deducted a total of N1, 764,705,937.62, which is bank charges. N1, 764,705,937.62 was exchanged for United States dollars at the rate of N1,416.13, producing a total of USD 62,307,164.48. The said amount was sent to the British SAAB Account in Saudi Arabia belonging to NAHCON.

USD 62,307,164.48 was converted to Saudi Riyal at the rate of N3,748, a sum of SR 233,527,252.47 was gotten

The document further stated that the opening balance of the IBAN-E track for 2024 Hajj activities was SR 19,813,810.89, with an inflow of SR 485,000,000.00 from NAHCON, and the closing balance stood at SR 78,985,266.03.

It was revealed that the closing balance amount includes the SR20,637,908.23 refunded from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Saudi Arabia.

It was alleged that Abubakar Muhammed Lamin, an individual, withdrew cash from the British SAAB account, totalling SR 22 815,367.74, during the 2024 Hajj operation in Saudi Arabia.

According to the EFFC document, the expected cash payment for services and allowances to staff and stakeholders is SR 14,905,910.47. A total sum of SR 8,614,175.27 cash withdrawal from the account has yet to be accounted for by NAHCON, which has warranted the detention.

The EFFC have also started investigations into the activities of the commission since 2022 which presented a series of revelations that the the commission is currently working with.