The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has recovered 314,098 Saudi Riyal approximately N132m from the Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Jalal Arabi, and other ranking officials.
The NAHCON chairman and some of the commission’s top officials including the secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, have been under investigation by the EFCC, partly bordering on the N90bn federal government used to subsidise last Hajj.
Arabi and Kontagora are presently in custody of the anti-graft agency on account of the ongoing probe.
This is as per Punchng.
In the report, it said the officials and their accomplices run into trouble for helping themselves with part of the N90bn subsidy by overpaying themselves the necessary operational cost.
Quoting a document from the EFCC on the subject, the publication wrote: “The chairman fraudulently overpaid himself, the commissioners, secretary and directors for the 2024 hajj operational cost.
“The chairman was entitled to SR15,929 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 SR2,550 they were entitled to. The total of SR314,098 were recovered from all of them.”
