Nigerian Judge Issues Arrest Warrant for Chief of Exxon Unit

A Nigerian judge issued an arrest warrant for the managing director of Exxon Mobil Corp’s local unit for failing to appear before the nation’s anti-graft agency investigating what it says is a $213 million fraud. Federal Court Judge Okon Abang approved a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, to issue an arrest warrant for Richard Laing, head of Exxon Mobil’s Nigeria unit, Wilson Uwujaren, an Abuja-based spokesman for the EFCC said by phone Wednesday.

The warrant is in connection with an alleged pipeline contract procurement fraud. Laing rebuffed three invitations to appear before the agency to give testimony, Uwujaren said. Exxon Mobil’s Nigerian unit declined to comment. Nigeria’s EFCC is investigating a fraudulent creation of change orders on a pipeline project worth more than $213 million.

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