A document issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California and dated February 12, 2021 has revealed how fraud suspect Abass Ramon aka Hushpuppi paid N8m ($20,600) to deputy commissioner of police Abba Kyari to arrest and detain an alleged co-conspirator Chibuzo Kelly Vincent.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation alleged in the document that Hushpuppi contracted the services of Kyari after Chibuzo allegedly threatened to expose an alleged $1.1m fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.
The document stated, “On January 16, 2020, Abbas sent a message to Kyari on WhatsApp, and then placed five calls to another phone number (+2348060733588) that was listed as ‘Abba Kyari.’ Call records show that the last three of the calls were answered and that one of the calls lasted more than two minutes.
“Shortly after that, Abbas received a message from Kyari, confirming ‘We would pick him today or tomorrow.’ Abbas wrote, ‘I will take care of the team also after they pick him up.’ Kyari confirmed ‘Yes ooo.’”
The document averred that, based on the conversation described in paragraphs 143 to 145, Abbas planned to pay the Nigeria Police Force officers who arrested Chibuzo for that service.
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.
In May 2020, the document said, “Abbas sent Kyari transaction receipts for two transactions from accounts at Nigerian banks (GTBank and Zenith Bank) of a person Abbas knew in the U.A.E.— a person also arrested with Abbas in Abbas’ apartment in the U.A.E. by Dubai Police on June 9, 2020 — to the Nigerian bank accounts of another person in Nigeria.
“The amounts on the transaction receipts totalled 8 million Nigerian Naira, which was approximately $20,600 based on publicly available exchange rate information.”
Following Chibuzo’s arrest, Kyari sent photos to Abbas, of which the latter stated, ‘I want him to go through serious beating of his life.’ Kyari responded, ‘Hahahaha,’ and Abbas replied, ‘Seriously sir.’
“Approximately a month later, on February 19, 2020, Kyari sent a message to Abbas, saying, ‘Hello hush with [sic] need to talk about the subject under detention with me.’
“The following day, Kyari sent Abbas multiple photographs of Chibuzo to Abbas, including close-up photographs showing a rash or skin disease on Chibuzo’s torso and arms,” the document allege.
Chibuzo was later released but his phone was seized, according to the transcript.
