Former Warri Refinery Managing Director Jimoh Yisawu has been arraigned by the EFCC over alleged money laundering involving over $900,000. A Federal High Court granted him N500 million bail ahead of trial
EFCC Arraigns Former Warri Refinery MD Jimoh Yisawu Over Alleged Money Laundering, Gets N500m Bail
Former Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC), Jimoh Yisawu, has been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged money laundering involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mr Yisawu pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared before Justice Inyang Ekwo on Monday. Following his plea, the court granted him bail in the sum of N500 million with one surety in like sum after ruling that the offences were bailable.
The arraignment came weeks after an earlier attempt to bring the former refinery chief before the court failed on 8 July when Justice Ekwo did not sit.
The charges, filed on 22 June by EFCC counsel Ekele Iheanacho (SAN), allege that Mr Yisawu laundered proceeds of unlawful activities while serving as Managing Director of WRPC and used part of the funds to purchase treasury bills.
After the defendant entered his plea, Mr Iheanacho applied for a date for the commencement of trial. Defence counsel Wale Balogun (SAN) subsequently sought and obtained the court’s permission to argue his client’s bail application. Although the prosecution opposed the request, Justice Ekwo granted bail.
The court ordered that the surety must be a responsible citizen who owns landed property within the court’s jurisdiction, with the property’s title documents to be verified by the court registrar. Justice Ekwo also directed Mr Yisawu to deposit his international passport with the court and ruled that he must not travel outside Nigeria without prior court approval.
Pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions, the judge ordered that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the EFCC.
The case was adjourned until 25, 26 and 27 October for the commencement of trial.
According to the EFCC, between October 2023 and May 2025, Mr Yisawu allegedly indirectly converted $789,950 through one Samaila Bala. The commission alleged that the money did not form part of his known lawful earnings as a former public officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), formerly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.
The anti-graft agency further alleged that within the same period, Mr Yisawu made cash payments exceeding the statutory threshold, amounting to $789,950, to Samaila Bala without routing the funds through a financial institution.
In another count, the EFCC alleged that between February 2024 and March 2025, the former refinery boss indirectly converted another $122,600 through Rasheed Olaitan Yusuf of Rasheedat Anike Global Ventures, maintaining that the funds were not part of his lawful earnings and represented proceeds of unlawful activity.
The commission also accused Mr Yisawu of retaining N25.563 million paid into his Zenith Bank and Access Bank accounts by JKpeez Impex Co., a contractor to an NNPCL subsidiary, “when he reasonably ought to have known that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.”
The EFCC further alleged that on 21 February 2024, Mr Yisawu transferred N65.86 million to Cordros Securities Limited to purchase treasury bills for himself with funds he reasonably ought to have known were proceeds of unlawful activity.
The commission said the alleged offences contravene the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The prosecution is part of a broader EFCC investigation into the alleged diversion of funds approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries. On 29 June, the commission reportedly filed similar money laundering charges against Mr Yisawu and former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, accusing them of laundering proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving payments from contractors engaged by the NNPCL, operating accounts used to conceal illicit funds and conducting large cash transactions in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Recently, the investigators reportedly recovered more than N9.4 billion and $21.2 million, valued at about N29.26 billion, alongside several landed properties during the probe.
Mr Dikko was arraigned before the same court on 8 July on a 12-count charge. Justice Ekwo subsequently granted him bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety and fixed 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of his trial.
