Deputy Commissioner of Police and the Head of the Inspector-General’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abba Kyari faces up to twenty years imprisonment in the United States over alleged involvement in Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, commonly known as Hushpuppi fraud case.
WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier reported that the United States Department of Justice had said ongoing investigations showed that Hushpuppi allegedly bribed Kyari to arrest one Kelly Chibuzo Vincent, one of his accomplices in Nigeria.
According to a court document released by the United States Department of Justice on Wednesday, titled: ‘Six Indicted in International Scheme to Defraud Qatari School Founder and then Launder over $1 Million in Illicit Proceeds’, Kyari was said to have been bribed to arrest one Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, 40, in Nigeria, who created bogus documents and arranged for the creation of a fake bank website and phone banking line to support the defrauding of a business person trying to provide $1.1m for the funding of a school in Qatar.
Allegation which Kyari has denied, stating that he did not demand any money from Hushpuppi, only introduced the accused to a cloth seller whom Hushpuppi paid about N300,000.
The 46-year-old said he never demanded for a dime from Hushpuppi, admitting his focus was to save people’s lives that were purported to have been threatened.
The celebrated ‘super cop’ risks a 20-year jail term if found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“A criminal complaint and an indictment contain allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Both conspiracy counts alleged in the indictment carry a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year prison term,” US court document revealed.