The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has said there are reasonable grounds to proceed against a suspended celebrity police officer, Abba Kyari, who was fingered in a multi-million dollars fraud spearheaded by Ramon Abass, aka Hushpuppi.
Mr Malami disclosed this while appearing on the Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Monday.
The U.S. government had in July 2021, unveiled the charges against Mr Kyari and other alleged co-conspirators.
Huspuppi, a Nigerian Instagram celebrity until his arrest in Dubai, UAE, in June 2020, is one of the arrowheads of the scam. He has pleaded guilty to the charges in a separate case, and his sentence is billed to come up later in the year.
Police authorities conducted an enquiry into Mr Kyari’s roles in the scam, but continue to keep sealed lips over the outcome, despite persistent demand of public disclosure by Nigerians.
But Mr Malami, whose office was forwarded the report of police investigations, confirmed on Monday that there “were reasonable grounds to proceed against Mr Kyari by either putting him on or extraditing him to the U.S. where charges are pending against him$.
“As far as I am concerned, the parties are discussing, the parties are collaborating and there are exchanges of correspondence from the perspective of investigation, from the perspective of extradition and associated things,” he said.
Asked if Mr Kyari was found “guilty” in the police report, Mr Malami said, “You can’t find someone guilty, but perhaps, reasonable grounds for suspicion can be established which will translate into prosecution that will eventually translate…”
He added, “That is why we are talking of reasonable grounds for suspicion. Reasonable grounds for suspicion have been established and that will eventually translate to the possibility of prosecution and eventual conviction if at the end of the day one is adjudged guilty by the court of law.
“The position now is that there are prima facie grounds, reasonable grounds for suspicion that have been considered, from the perspective of prosecution, prospective of likely extradition, if the need for so doing arises. That is what is unfolding in terms of international collaboration.”
Mr Malami also said there was also an ongoing collaboration with the U.S. authorities over Hushpuppi.
