Abba Kyari denies exonerating Abba Kyari, says he only requested further probe

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Sunday night described as an outright falsehood reports on the exoneration of the suspended head of the police intelligence response team, Abba Kyari, by his office.

Reports had earlier emerged that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF) in new legal advice exonerated the super cop of complicity in the laundering of $1.1 million alongside the suspected international fraudster, Abass Ramon aka Hushpuppi.

In the first legal advice, the AGF admitted that a “prima-facie case of money laundering of 33 payments (proceeds of crime) was established” by the Special Investigation Panel led by the late DIG Joseph Egbunike against Kyari.

But in the new advice issued a few days after Egbunike’s death, Malami claimed that there was no sufficient evidence that the police officer was involved in money laundering.

However, in another statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, the AGF denied exonerating Kyari, saying he only requested a further probe on some aspects of the investigation.

The statement read: “The office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice’s stance is that no conclusion has been reached in the direction of absence of evidence relating to the first report.

“The issues were raised for further investigation with a view to cover the field in the investigation in order to arrive at an informed decision.”