The  Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Jalal Arabi, and the commission’s secretary, Abdullahi Kontagora, are currently in the custody of the Economic and  Financial Crimes Commission over the alleged mismanagement of the N90bn 2024 Hajj subsidy.

In a document our correspondent sighted on Wednesday, the anti-graft agency stated,

The NAHCON chairman and other ranking officials recovered SR314,098.

The EFCC said its investigation revealed that from the N90bn Hajj subsidy, Arabi, fraudulently overpaid himself and others the necessary operational cost.

The document also outlines the approved 2024 Hajj operational cost for the Chairman/CEO.

The 2024 budget allocates $4,250, $12,750, $3,825, and $15,300 to the Commissioners, Secretary, and Directors/Chief of Staff, respectively.

The EFCC, however, alleged that “the chairman fraudulently overpaid himself, the commissioners, secretary, and directors for the 2024 Hajj operational cost.

“Three commissioners, who should have received SR 15,929 each, received SR 40,000 instead; the chairman, entitled to SR 15,929, received SR 50,000.” The secretary got SR 30,000 instead of SR 14,336. Directors/Chief of Staff received SR 30,000 instead of the SR 2,550 they were entitled to.  The total of

SR314,098 were recovered from all of them.”

The anti-graft agency first grilled Arabi for hours on July 29 and released him on bail.

Also, last week Wednesday, some top officials of the Hajj commission were arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over alleged mismanagement or diversion of the N90bn subsidy.

On Wednesday, a source in the EFCC told our correspondent that the NAHCON Chairman was taken in again for questioning and detained on Wednesday.

“The Secretary and Chairman of the commission are in our custody and are facing serious interrogations on the N90bn subsidy, among other allegations,” the source said on condition of anonymity because they could not speak officially.

According to a document our correspondent exclusively saw, NAHCON has not yet accounted for SR 8,614,175.27 in cash withdrawals from the N90bn the Federal Government released to the commission.

The document partially stated, “The Federal Government of Nigeria released the sum of N90bn to the National Hajj Commission to subsidise the 2024 Hajj Operations.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria deducted bank charges totaling N1, 764,705,937.62.

We subsequently converted the sum of N88, 235,294,063.72 into United States dollars at the rate of N1,416.13, which amounted to USD 62,307,164.48, and then transferred it into the NAHCON British SAAB Account in Saudi Arabia.

We converted the sum of USD 62,307,164.48 to Saudi Riyal at the rate of N3,748, resulting in SR 233,527,252.47.

The IBAN-E track’s opening balance for the 2024 Hajj activities was SR 19,813,810.89, and it received SR 485,000,000.00 from NAHCON, resulting in a closing balance of SR 78,985,266.03.

The closing balance includes the SR20,637,908.23 refund from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia.

During the 2024 Hajj operation in Saudi Arabia, one Abubakar Muhammed Lamin withdrew cash totaling SR 22, 815,367.74 from the British SAAB account.

“The expected cash payment for services and allowances to staff and stakeholders is SR 14,905,910.47.

NAHCON has not yet accounted for the total cash withdrawal of SR 8,614,175.27.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the commission’s activities since 2022 resulted in the recovery of estacodes paid to staff who did not undertake study tours, as well as payments made to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd for services that were not rendered.

“While investigation commenced on the criminal aspect, which led to the recovery of Estacodes paid to staff who did not travel to Indonesia for study tours, recoveries were also made for services not rendered in the sum of SR 1,026,000.00 and SR 1,780,019.99, purportedly 7.5% of consultancy paid to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd for debt recovery of the sum of SR 20,637.908.23 from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Saudi Arabia.”

The document stated that all supporting documents for payment of the consultancy services, including the Executive Chairman’s approval, were fraudulently backdated to January 23, 2024, to enable the payment of the sum of SAR 780, 019, 59 to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd on April 14, 2024.

“The first suspect, Jalal Arabi, confessed that the consultant did not render any services.

“A meeting of the Expanded Transitional Exco was held on 25th January 2024 with seven members and 18 staff in attendance, but the payment of the consultancy services to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd. was not discussed.

“The commission’s secretary slotted the approval for the payment of the 7.5% consultancy to Shuraka’a al-Khair Group Ltd in the minutes of the Expanded Transitional Exco meeting as item 10 under AOB to enable the perfection of the documentation to steal the funds.

“That the said sum of SR1,026,000.00, equivalent to about N430,920,000 Million, was also recovered from one Eastern Gulf Company Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”