The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has detained Jalal Arabi, the executive chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
On Thursday, August 15, 2024, NAHCON’s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, was also detained by the anti-graft agency.
It was gathered that the NAHCON officials were detained over the alleged mismanagement of the N90 billion 2024 Hajj subsidy approved by President Bola Tinubu.
According to a document, SR 8,614,175.27 in cash withdrawal out of the N90 billion released by the federal government to the commission is yet to be accounted for by NAHCON.
The EFCC has so far recovered 314,098 Saudi Riyal (about N131,791,155 million) from the embattled NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials of the agency.
Investigations by the EFCC reveal that from the N90 billion Hajj subsidy, Arabi “fraudulently overpaid himself, the commissioners, secretary and directors for the 2024 Hajj operational cost.”
“The chairman was entitled to SR 15,929, but he got SR50,000; three commissioners who were meant to get SR 15,929 each received SR 40,000 each. The secretary got SR 30,000 instead of SR14,336.
“Directors/Chief of Staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR 2,550 they were entitled to. The total of SR314,098 was recovered from all of them.”
In July, the anti-graft agency first grilled Arabi for hours and released him on bail. Also, on Wednesday, August 7, some top NAHCON officials were reportedly arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged mismanagement or diversion of the hajj subsidy.
A source in the EFCC who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that on Wednesday, August 14, the NAHCON boss was taken in again for questioning and was detained.
The source said: “The chairman and secretary of the commission are in our custody and are facing serious interrogations on the N90 billion subsidy, among other allegations.”
