The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the immediate past Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged money laundering case involving multiple financial transactions linked to refinery rehabilitation funds.
Dikko was brought before Justice Inyang Ekwo on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering. He was arraigned alongside Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, a company also named in the charges. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all allegations.
Following the arraignment, Justice Ekwo granted Dikko bail in the sum of ₦150 million with one surety. The court ordered that the surety must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction, while Dikko was directed to surrender his international passport and obtain court approval before travelling outside Nigeria. The case was adjourned to October 12, 13 and 14 for the commencement of trial.
According to the EFCC, Dikko allegedly used proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire property in Abuja and received funds from contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) during the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
The anti-graft agency further alleged that the former refinery boss retained and concealed large sums of money in several bank accounts, including accounts linked to Ifeabigo Integrated Services, Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, and members of his family. Investigators also accused him of carrying out large cash transactions in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Among the allegations, the EFCC claimed Dikko made a cash payment of ₦218.4 million for the purchase of a property in Katampe Extension, Abuja, without passing the funds through a financial institution. The commission also alleged that he received and retained hundreds of millions of naira from companies contracted by the NNPCL, despite allegedly knowing the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities.
The prosecution forms part of the EFCC’s wider investigation into funds released for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries. The commission had earlier filed similar charges against the former Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, over alleged diversion of refinery rehabilitation funds.
The EFCC has disclosed that its ongoing investigation into the refinery rehabilitation programme has so far led to the recovery of more than ₦9.4 billion, $21.2 million, and several landed properties, bringing the total value of assets and cash traced in the probe to about ₦38.66 billion.
Dikko, who served as Managing Director of PHRC from March 2020, has denied all allegations and is expected to defend himself as the trial proceeds.
