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People Gazette broke the news last week that a judge in the United States had issued a warrant of arrest for Nigeria’s disgraced police officer Abba Kyari, questions have spread as to why.

You see, the U.S. accused the Nigerian deputy police commissioner of conniving with Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, a notorious Nigerian fraudster based in Dubai, to defraud a Qatari businessperson of $1.1 million. So Nigerians have been asking: what is the business of the U.S. in all of this, after all, neither Mr Kyari nor Hushpuppi nor even the victim was in the U.S. when the crime was allegedly committed?

Unlike in previous cases, say Obinwanne Okeke, Bidemi Rufai or Allen Onyema who committed their alleged fraud in the U.S., America’s interest in Mr Kyari’s case was not immediately apparent in court filings. Even though the indictment was lengthy and detailed in establishing connivance in wire fraud and money laundering, while making direct connections between other co-conspirators and America, The PeoplesGazette had to write the U.S. prosecutors to get clarification as to how Mr Kyari violated American law that would justify his extradition.

Here’s what we learnt.

American prosecutors, in their complaint, established a relationship between Mr Kyari and Hushpuppi. They also established that there was a relationship between Hushpuppi and two female co-conspirators in the U.S.

Motunrayo Fashola, who has a child with Hushpuppi, has been a resident of New York; while Bolatito Agbabiaka has been living in New Jersey. Both women were in charge of Wells Fargo and Capital One bank accounts used by the syndicate to defraud the Qatari businessperson.

Mr Kyari arrested and detained Chibuzo Vincent for five weeks to block him from further dissuading the Qatari businessperson not to send money to the U.S. bank accounts run by the two women for Hushpuppi.

Since it was clear in the indictment that Mr Kyari knew that holding Chibuzo was only to allow Hushpuppi to defraud the Qatari businessperson of an additional $575,000 as Hushpuppi specifically mentioned to Mr Kyari, this made Mr Kyari an accomplice in the fraud that passed through American banks.

After the Qatari businessperson, who was not identified in court filings, transferred funds into the American bank accounts, Messrs Fashola and Agbabiaka collected the money and laundered it, through purchases and wire transfers directed by Hushpuppi.

In the document, prosecutors said Mr Kyari received his share through proxies from Hushpuppi after the Qatari businessperson transferred the money to American banks for Hushpuppi’s female co-conspirators. This made American banks victim of a scheme in which Mr Kyari was a key player, thus the country’s interest.

Both count one (wire fraud) and count two (money laundering) “had ties to the United States, through both bank accounts in the U.S. and defendants located in the U.S.,” Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, told The Gazette in an emailed statement.

Following Mr Kyari’s suspension from the Nigeria Police Force, American prosecutors are expected to expedite their request for the disgraced officer’s extradition from Nigeria to face charges for taking part in a scheme, proceeds of which were transferred to and laundered through banks in America — where at least two co-conspirators are based.

A new revelation has emerged in the bribery allegation levelled against Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari in a case involving internet fraudster, Abass Ramon, popularly known as Hushpuppi.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has alleged that the super cop was paid ₦8m or $20,600 by Hushpuppi to arrest Chibuzo Kelly Vincent.

A document issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California and dated February 12, 2021, alleged that Hushpuppi contracted the services of Kyari after Chibuzo allegedly threatened to expose an alleged $1.1m fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.

“Kyari provided the account information for a bank account at a Nigerian bank, Zenith Bank, in the name of a person other than Kyari himself,” Page 59, item 145 of the document stated.

FBI Special Agent, Andrew John Innocenti, made the allegation in the ‘Criminal Complaint By Telephone Or Other Reliable Electronic Means’ filed before the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has challenged Nigeria’s deputy police commissioner Abba Kyari to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the District Court in the United States if he is not guilty of allegations against him.

Mr Kyari had denied any wrongdoing after Peoples Gazette on Thursday broke the news of his embroiling with Nigerian Internet fraudster Ramon Abass known as Hushpuppi, in a multimillion-dollar fraud.

Court documents revealed an order to arrest and detain Mr Kyari after Mr Abbas pleaded guilty to large-scale cyber fraud in the U.S. recently. The documents also exposed how Mr Abbas bribed Mr Kyari to arrest one of his gang members following a dispute presumably over the proceeds of crime. The police officer arrested and detained the gang member.

Claiming no wrongdoing, Mr Kyari, in a statement on Facebook, narrated how Mr Abbas called him two years ago to complain about a person threatening to kill his family.

He said the suspect was released after discovering there was no threat to anyone’s life, “and they are longtime friends who have money issues between them.

“Nobody demanded a kobo from Abbas Hushpuppi,” claiming that he only introduced Mr Abbas, who paid N300,000 to his cloth vendor.

“Later, he saw some of my native clothes and caps on my social media page, and he said he likes them, and he was connected to the person selling the clothes, and he sent about N300k directly to the person’s account,” added Mr Kyari. “The native clothes and caps (five sets) were brought to our office, and He sent somebody to collect them in our office.”

Reacting to Mr Kyari’s claims, Mr Falana said, “The United States and Nigeria have an extradition treaty which covers the offences allegedly committed by CP Abba Kyari.”

“If the police officer insists on his innocence, he may want to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the district court in the United States. Once the request is received by the federal government, the attorney general will commence extradition proceedings in the federal high court.”

Additional details in the indictment file contained how Mr Kyari left his job as a police officer and travelled to Dubai to enjoy a good time with Mr Abbas, who lived at Palazzo Versace in the Emirati commercial capital.

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has ordered a probe of the Commander, IGP Intelligence Response Monitoring Team, DCP Abba Kyari, whom a United States Court issued an arrest warrant against for his alleged links to international fraudster, Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpupi.

Kyari, who is popularly known as ‘super cop,’ had received rapid promotions and a commendation from the National Assembly for his exploits in crime fighting. His arrest of several notorious criminals, including alleged kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onuamadike, commonly known as Evans, among other notable arrests, shot him to the limelight.

On Wednesday, however, an unsealed 69-page court document obtained by The PUNCH showed that he had been under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his alleged link to Hushpuppi, who had pleaded guilty to fraud.

In the case marked 2:21-cr-00203, USA VS Abba Alhaji Kyari dated April 29, 2021, but unsealed on Wednesday, the FBI asked a US District Court in California to order the arrest of Kyari for 10 days.

The US Department of Justice in a statement said Hushpuppi admitted during interrogation that he paid bribes to Abba Kyari, to have one of his rivals arrested and jailed in Nigeria following a dispute over a $1.1m fraud involving a Qatari businessperson.

According to the FBI, Hushpuppi asked Kyari to arrest fellow fraudster, Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, after both were involved in a dispute over the $1.1m loot.

It was stated in the court document that in September 2019, Kyari travelled to Dubai and was picked by Hushpuppi’s driver

A statement by the Department of Justice read, “Court documents outline a dispute among members of the conspiracy, which allegedly prompted Vincent to contact the victim and claim that Abbas and Juma were engaged in fraud. After this contact, Abbas allegedly arranged to have Vincent jailed in Nigeria by Abba Alhaji Kyari, 46, of Nigeria.

“According to the affidavit, Kyari is a highly decorated Deputy Commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force who is alleged to have arranged for Vincent to be arrested and jailed at Abbas’ behest, and then sent Abbas photographs of Vincent after his arrest. Kyari also allegedly sent Abbas bank account details for an account into which Abbas could deposit payment for Vincent’s arrest and imprisonment.”

Meanwhile, the IG has ordered an internal review of the allegations against the accused of involvement in financial fraud with Hushpuppi.

Otis Wright of the United States District Court for the Central District of California had ordered the FBI to track down Kyari and produce him in the US for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud perpetrated by Hushpuppi.

Reacting to the development, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said the IG ordered an internal review of the allegations against Kyari after receiving the indictment processes from the FBI.

Mba said this in a statement on Thursday, titled, ‘Alleged indictment of DCP Abba Kyari: Inspector-General of Police orders a review of the information.’

It read, “Sequel to the receipt of allegation and indictment processes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation against one of the personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, DCP Abba Kyari, the Inspector- General of Police, Usman Baba, has ordered an internal review of the allegations.

“The Nigeria Police Force reaffirms its commitment to the pursuit of justice and the strengthening of its professional relationship with the FBI and other international partners. Further developments on this case will be communicated to members of the public, accordingly.”

In a related development, the Peoples Democratic Party demanded a forensic investigation of the allegations against Kyari.

The PDP made the demand in a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, titled ‘Abba Kyari: PDP Demands Full Investigation.’

The statement partly read in part, “Our party demands that the APC administration should not sweep this matter under the carpet given the manifest rapport between Kyari and some top APC leaders. We urge President Buhari not to ‘ease out’ this case of corruption but should immediately restore the integrity and image of our nation by allowing for a forensic investigation on the suspect.”

However, refuting the claims by Hushpuppi, Kyari on Thursday took to his official Facebook page and said no money was paid to him.

He said, “Abbas who we later came to know as Hushpuppi called our office about two years 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.

“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.

“Nobody demanded a kobo from Abbas Hushpuppi. Our focus was to save people’s lives that were purported to have been threatened,” Kyari said.

The police boss also claimed that Hushpuppi once admired some of his outfits and sent N300,000 to his tailor to design the same outfit for him.

He stressed that the money was paid directly to his tailor and not him but the clothes were picked up from his office.