The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday grilled the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Jalal Arabi, over alleged mismanagement of 2024 Hajj exercise fund.
Arabi was invited by the commission to answer questions on how the commission spent the N90 billion subsidy for the exercise.
This followed petitions against the chairman and the commission’s management over alleged fund mismanagement, especially during the 2024 hajj exercise.
A source at the EFCC to journalists that Arabi was invited to provide detailed explanations on how NAHCON managed the funds allocated to it for the pilgrims.
He said: “As of now, the NAHCON chairman has been invited, he is already being interrogated by our crack detectives to provide explanations on some issues that border on allegations of fund mismanagement in the commission.
“The investigation is ongoing; it is dated back to 2021 when the issue of fraud in the commission became messier.
“There is an ongoing investigation on alleged misappropriation of N200 million before now and some officials of the commission were invited for questioning.
According to the source, three directors from the commission have been invited to explain what they know about the issue.
‘’Now, the Chief Executive Officer has been invited to explain how the fund allocated to the commission is being spent.
“The investigation will continue until EFCC gets to the root of how the fund allocated to the commission was spent.”
However, he added that the chairman may not be detained if he promised to himself available when asked to do so.
“He may not be detained but will be asked to come back if the need be at the end of the day, but presently, he is still being interrogated.
‘’The CEO has been invited and honoured the invitation; he will go back, there is no reason to keep him in custody when he is already cooperating.
‘’The new EFCC is operating in accordance with international best practices; you can see that most of the people invited are always allowed to go if they comply,” he added.
