A Nigerian judge issued an arrest warrant for the managing director of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s local unit for failing to appear before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is investigating what it says is a $213 million fraud.
Federal Court Judge Okon Abang approved a request by the EFCC to issue an arrest warrant for Richard Laing, head of Exxon Mobil’s Nigerian unit. The EFCC is investigating the company, and not Laing.
Exxon Mobil’s Nigerian unit operates a joint venture with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., in which it holds a 40 percent stake.
The warrant relates to an investigation into the alleged fraudulent creation of change orders worth more than $213 million in a pipeline project, the EFCC said in a statement.