By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria

Nigeria Thursday arraigned a former chief of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on a six-count charge of fraud and false declaration of assets.

The arraignment followed recovery last month of $9.8 million and £74,000 ($91,000) from an underground bunker in the residence of the former official, Andrew Yakubu. He was subsequently arrested, questioned, and detained over the recovery.

The country's anti-corruption agency said Yakubu did not declare the funds in his assets declaration in 2015. The agency also accused him of moving the vast sum without passing them through financial institutions as required by law.

“Sometime between 2012 and 2014 in Abuja … you transported at various times … the aggregate sum of $9,772,800 only when you knew or reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceeds of some form of unlawful activities,” said one of the state charges.

Yakubu, who said the money were gifts he had saved for the last five years, pleaded not guilty. He has also sued the anti-graft agency for violating his rights but hearings in the case have been postponed.

Following Thursday's arraignment, Federal High Court Justice Ahmed Muhammed ordered Andrew Yakubu remanded in prison until March 21 for bail hearings. Yakubu’s application to be granted bail on self-recognizance was rejected by the prosecutor.