Abba Kyari: Nigeria’s most celebrated cop is indicted in global fraud scheme. He faces same sentence as Hushpuppi
One of Nigeria’s most celebrated police officers, Abba Kyari, credited with leading some of Nigeria Police Force’s biggest victories against kidnapping, armed robbery and banditry, has been indicted in a global fraud scheme, court documents released by the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for Central District of California (Los Angeles) revealed.
Kyari, 46, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, will likely be charged for aiding and abetting in Los Angeles.
Abbas ‘Hushpuppi’ Olorunwa presently in detention in the U.S for alleged conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from Business Email Compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams indicted Kyari during his guilty plea agreement with the USAO.
In court documents obtained by Neusroom from the Attorney’s Office, Kyari was accused of obtaining funds from Hushpuppi to arrest and keep one of his allies Vincent Chibuzo in prison for at least a month for interfering with his fraud scheme.
Hushpuppi allegedly connived with Chibuzo and a 29-year-old Kenyan Abdulrahman Juma to defraud a Qatari businessman seeking lenders to build an international school for children in Qatar.
They allegedly defrauded the businessman of more than $1.1 million.
“JUMA and ABBAS interacted directly with the Victim. JUMA claimed to own a company in Kenya that would provide the loan, while ABBAS pretended to be “Malik,” a banker at Wells Fargo in the United States, who was purportedly facilitating the loan payment,” the court document says.
“CHIBUZO was involved in creating a fraudulent website and automated phone line that would convince the Victim Businessperson that the $15 million loan had been secured. In the course of the scheme, the Victim Businessperson made multiple payments purportedly for taxes and other fees, which JUMA and ABBAS told the Victim Businessperson were necessary to secure the loan.”
In several chats between Hushpuppi and Kyari obtained by the FBI, Hushpuppi allegedly instructed Kyari to arrest Chibuzo who was based in Abuja for complaining over his share of the proceeds and contacting the victim to “convince the Victim Businessperson to stop making fraudulent payments to ABBAS and JUMA, and to make fraudulent payments to him instead.”
Hushpuppi’s message to Kyari also specifically told him that Chibuzo contacted “the job” behind his back to “divert the job for himself.”
“ABBAS asked KYARI to have the police administer the “serious beating of his life” and arranged with KYARI to pay to keep CHIBUZO imprisoned for at least a month so that the fraud scheme could be successfully executed, and the money could be obtained. After KYARI arrested CHIBUZO, he sent ABBAS photographs of CHIBUZO in custody and later told ABBAS that he would not allow CHIBUZO’s girlfriend to pay money to get CHIBUZO out of custody as he would have done for a “normal arrest.”
The USAO accused Kyari of receiving N8 million from Hushpuppi in separate transactions “from GTBank and Zenith Bank accounts of a person ABBAS knew in the U.A.E. and also arrested in ABBAS’ apartment in the U.A.E. by Dubai Police on June 9, 2020”
The unnamed person is Sikiru Adekoya who was released in June 2021.
Neusroom tried to contact Kyari in the early hours of Thursday, July 29, 2021, but his lines were unreachable.
He has, however, confirmed that he arrested Chibuzo but claimed he acted following a complaint by Hushpuppi that Chibuzo was threatening his family.
“Abbas who we later came to know as Hushpuppi called our office about 2years ago that somebody in Nigeria Seriously threatened to kill his Family here in Nigeria and he sent the person’s Phone number and pleaded we take action before the Person attacks his family,” he wrote in a statement on his Facebook page on Thursday.
“We traced and arrested the Suspect and after investigations, we discovered there wasn’t an actual threat to anyone’s life and they are long time friends who have money issues between them hence we released the Suspect on bail to go and he was not taken to any jail.”
Kyari denied collecting money from Hushpuppi but didn’t comment on his trip to Dubai in September 2019 where he was said to have met Hushpuppi, and his series of WhatsApp conversations with Hushpuppi published in the USAO document.
We emailed the spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force, Frank Mba. He is yet to respond.
Mba didn’t pick calls from a Neusroom correspondent.
Kyari is one of Nigeria’s most celebrated officers. In June 2020, he was honoured by the Nigerian House of Representatives for ‘his exceptional work’ in the fight against crime in the country.
Kyari led the team that arrested notorious armed robber Abiodun ‘Godogodo’ Egunjobi in 2013 after over a decade-long manhunt. He also led the team that arrested some of Nigeria’s most vicious kidnappers, Chukwudumeme ‘Evans’ Onwaumadike, Henry ‘Vampire’ Chibueze in Owerri, Imo State and Hamisu Bala Wadume.
The FBI may push for his arrest and he may be charged for aiding and abetting if arrested and repatriated to the U.S
“Whoever commits an offence against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal,” the U.S Codes of Law says.
Section 31 of the California Penal Code legally defines aiding and abetting as: “All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether a felony or misdemeanour, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offence, or aid and abet in its commission, or not being present, have advised and encouraged its commission, are principals in any crime so committed.”
Under California law, a defendant could face the exact same legal penalties for aiding and abetting as the person who actually committed the crime.
“Therefore, if you are convicted of aiding and abetting under California Penal Code Section 31, you will be regarded as a principle to the offence and will be subjected to the same legal consequences as if you committed the crime,” says an article on the website of Eisner Gorin Attorneys, a Los Angeles law firm.
