The Police Service Commission has revealed the punishment that could befall DCP Abba Kyari if he is found guilty of alleged complicity with Instagram celebrity and serial Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi.
In a fresh indictment by the US government, Hushpuppi who was arrested in Dubai in June 2020 allegedly told the FBI that he gave a bribe to Kyari to facilitate the arrest and imprisonment of a member of his online fraud gang identified as Chibuzo Vincent. Kyari has however denied this allegation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US also disclosed how it identified and nailed Nigeria’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kyari, as one of the co-conspirators of Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, Kyari, a high-ranking Nigerian police officer who has received multiple honours, was one of six people indicted over an elaborate scheme to defraud a Qatari businessperson of more than $1 million, masterminded by celebrity fraudster, Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas.
The FBI revealed this in an affidavit issued before the United States District Court by a Special Agent with the FBI, Andrew John Innocenti.
The FBI said that Kyari abandoned his duties in Nigeria sometime in 2019 and flew to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to “enjoy a good time” with Hushpuppi, who lived at Palazzo Versace in the Emirati commercial capital.
READ ALSO: EFCC confirms correspondence with FBI to arrest DCP Abba Kyari over connection with Hushpuppi
While reacting to the indictment by the US government, the Commissioner in charge of Media on the board of the Police Service Commission, Austin Braimoh, in an interview with PUNCH, said the PSC would not be bound by the IG’s review of the allegations against Kyari, noting that the commission would carry out a further probe on whatever findings the police authorities made on Kyari. He added that the commission’s findings would determine Kyari’s future in the police force.
“The commission won’t say anything until we get the official report. We are the final decision-maker on his fate as a police officer. Everything concerning his indictment can be investigated and the criminal aspect of it can be sent to the law court but on the official aspect concerning discipline; no other body has power to do anything to him as a police officer, it is only the commission that has such powers.
“So, the commission is awaiting the full report of the investigation and his indictment and we will treat it officially; we will apply the law. The law will determine the various punishments that we can award against him. He can be dismissed depending on the gravity of the offence; we can demote him, reduce his rank; we can suspend him.
“Many things are laid out before us pertaining to various offences and after that, the criminal aspect would be referred to the court for prosecution. It depends on how the report is coming; whether it is coming to us directly for us to extricate the criminal aspect and treat it or they want to treat it and refer the official one to us to discipline him,” Braimoh added in part.
