Management of Skye Bank
will have every cost to give thanks to Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, for stopping an attempt by the bank staffers to fleece their
customers’ funds through their syndicate operating outside the banking halls.
Five persons, including staffers of the Skye
bank were involved in the bank fraud racket and they have been arrested by the
anti-financial crime body.
The suspected bank goons
were alleged to have been picked up on suspicious transfer of a total of N5,
550,000.00(Five Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) from an account
in Skye Bank.
The suspects, Ademola
Okunlola, 36; Tajudeen Oluwanisola, 41; Kolawole Adams, 52; Temitope Pedro, 27;
Bayo Olowoyo, 39 and Otunba Biodun Adebanjo, 56, were picked up in different
locations in Lagos by operatives of the anti- graft agency for allegedly
affecting the fraudulent transfer of N5, 550,000.00 from the account of one
Ajani Kareem Musibau domiciled in Skye Bank Plc.
It was gathered that the
fraudulent deal took place on March 3, 2014. One of the suspected fraudsters,
Ademola Okunlola, a staff of Skye Bank, Ikeja Branch, Lagos, was said to have
set the stage for the scam when he covertly used his camera phone to capture
the photograph and signature specimen of Musibau.
He accessed his account and
sent the details to another staff of the bank: Bayo Olowoyo at the Toyin
Street, Ikeja branch.
The duo reportedly sent
Musibau's photograph and signature specimen to a member of their syndicate who
effected the money transfer into two accounts: N4.1Million (Four Million, One
Hundred Thousand Naira) was moved into Adebanjo Biodun Olusola's account with
Wema Bank, Shagamu branch, Ogun State while N1, 450,000.00(One Million, Four
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) was moved into another account operated
by Temitope Pedro with Guaranty Trust Bank, Ikeja branch.
The suspects were arrested
following a petition by the bank. EFCC said the suspects would be arraigned in
court as soon as investigation was concluded. An EFCC official said there is
growing concern of bank workers who fleece their customers of their hard earned
money. The Commission asked depositors to know their account officers very
well. The source, who pleaded anonymity, further disclosed that some of the
bankers have betrayed the trust of their depositors and warned the banks to
equally scrutinize their staffers before giving them employment. Ex-banker with
a new generation bank in Lagos State said the rate of bankers in financial
crimes these days is worrisome adding that its share greed and
get-rich-quick-syndrome that are the cause of bankers stealing their
depositors’ money which he said was unprofessional.
On Wednesday October 23, 2013
EFCC arraigned a banker, Yagana Ibrahim Bukar before Justice Fatu Riman of the
Federal High Court Kano on 10-count charge bordering on money laundering and
theft.
The accused is said to have
abused her position as account officer at Sky Bank Plc and stole N12, 626, 250
of depositors’ fund. She allegedly perpetrated the scam by posting the sum into
three Sky Bank accounts belonging to her family members- Hajja Fanna, her
sister; Grema Ibrahim Bukar, her brother and her child, Ummu Kulthum. Reports said in order to conceal the illicit
origin of the money, the accused allegedly used part of the money to open a
provision store in the Kawo area of Kano Metropolis.
Yagana Ibrahim Bukarne of
the charges read; “that you Yagana Ibrahim Bukar on or about 15th August 2011
in Kano within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court converted the sum N1,
166, 920 (One Million One Hundred and Sixty Six Thousand Nine Hundred and
Twenty Naira Only) derived directly from participation in theft by depositing
the said amount into the Sky Bank account of Hajja Fanna with the aim of
concealing the illicit origin of the resources and thereby committed an offence
punishable under section 15(1) (a)(ii) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition)
Act, 2011.
The accused pleaded not guilty
to the charges. In view of the plea of the accused, the prosecution counsel,
Nasiru Salele told the court to proceed with the trial, adding that his
witnesses were ready to testify. But the defense counsel, Ma’aruf Yakasai
pleaded with the court to admit his client to bail. Justice Riman adjourned the
case to October 25, 2013 for ruling on bail application and fixed Monday
October 28, 2013, for continuation of hearing. As if that wasn’t enough, a
Justice at Kano State High Court sentenced a former banker with Mainstreet
Bank, Hadiza Mustafa to five years imprisonment for diverting a customer’s N10m
for personal use. Hadiza, who was arraigned by the EFCC alongside Mahmud Sule
on a 10-count charge that borders on forgery and theft of depositor’s fund, was
convicted on 9 of the counts.
The Justice sentenced her
to 12 months imprisonment on count 2 and six months imprisonment on counts 3 to
10. She is equally to a pay a fine of N120, 000. The judge further ordered that
Hadiza should pay the sum of N13, 000,000 (Thirteen Million Naira) in
restitution to the bank. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Last year, the Special
Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos State, arrested an account officer with Guaranty Trust
Homes, Adeola Olokojobi, in connection with an N50m fraud at the financial
institution.
Before his arrest,
Olokojobi was said to be working at the GT Homes, Saka Tinubu branch, Victoria
Island.
Report said the SFU
received a petition in October 2013, from a customer of the branch where
Olokojobi worked before arresting him. The customer had alleged that Olokojobi
was his account officer had “not been forthcoming with his account balances.”
A statement by the SFU
said, “The petitioner also alleged that the balance given to him was at
variance with his actual balance in the account.
“An internal investigation
conducted by GT Homes into the account revealed that Olokojobi in April 2013
forged an instruction, transferring N15m from the petitioner’s account, to an
unknown account.
“The bank also discovered
other various fraudulent withdrawals made by the account officer from other
customers’ accounts in his care through fake transfer instructions. It amounted
to over N50m. “He said the funds were used to finance his political campaign, a
proposed pure water company and purchase of an uncompleted building at
Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
“Olokojobi in his
confessional statement said he had fraudulently withdrawn monies amounting to
N50, 640,748 from the account of the customers by transferring funds into the
accounts of fictitious customers and subsequently withdrawing same.”
The suspect joined GT Homes
in 2009.
He, however, denied that he
had fraudulently transferred over N50m, insisting that instead, it was N27m. He
said, “I didn’t have to forge the instructions from GT homes customers. “All I
did was manipulate them. What happens is that they usually send instructions to
the account officers by email, requesting
that some money be
transferred to an account of their choice. All I simply do is add another
million or two to the sum the customer requested. “It went unnoticed all this
while because after using the money to do some business transactions, I always
paid it back. I was into several businesses; I would buy land and resell for
profit. “I got into trouble with this one because I withdrew N15m at once from
a customer’s account; I didn’t take it bit by bit, but I meant to pay it back.
In fact, I had already
started doing so before I was caught and arrested. But the police are not right
in saying that the money I had withdrawn from customers amounted to N50m; it is
N27m.”
Earlier this year, a
contract staff attached to the Item Street branch of Diamond Bank Plc, Owerri,
Mr. Daniel Chibueze Meshach presently battling court prosecution for allegedly
masterminding an armed robbery operation in the state.
Daniel Meshach, 27, from
Isingwu Ofeme-Ohuhu in Umuahia North council area of Abia state and two others
were arrested by men of the ‘Ambush Squad’ of the Imo state police command
after a fierce confrontation with the Police as they tried to escape the scene
of crime after successfully robbing their victim of cash and valuables at
Umurim, Nekede, in Owerri West Council area of Imo state.
Lamenting his fate, the
banker confessed to the crime. He agreed he planned the operation and picked
the victim of the robbery himself, apparently through privileged information.
He blamed his involvement in armed robbery on peer pressure and pleaded to be
given a second chance.
Also arrested and paraded
alongside the banker was one Emmanuel Chisom, a student of the Federal
Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, who confessed to supplying three firearms for the
robbery operation.
Chisom denied being the
current leader of a dreaded campus cult group as alleged, noting that he was
deposed last year, as leader of the Vikings confraternity, after what he termed
a ‘mutiny’. It is widely believed that apparent cult involvement may have drawn
the banker into crime. Two locally made pistols were also recovered from them.
However, the Imo state Police command has assured that the banker and his gang
would soon be charged to court on completion of investigations into the matter.
It would also be recalled
that Marilyn-Joan Obiora, a senior staff of Diamond Bank, was prosecuted by the
EFCC at the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State. Obiora’s stunts were
exposed in a petition by Stephen Inegbu, the bank’s zonal security supervisor
in Port Harcourt. His petition was inspired by the bank’s inspection unit,
which discovered that Obiora, abetted by four other staff of the bank, made
fraudulent withdrawals totalling N125.6 million in three instalments. Obiora
and colleagues withdrew N26 million, N91.6 million and N8 million. Like Obiora,
the duo of Ebele Okoh and Charles Amadi, also of Diamond Bank, also faced
allegations before the Karu Chief Magistrate’s Court, Abuja. Okoh and Amadi of
the bank’s Zone 4 branch in Abuja were accused of withdrawing N250, 000 from a
customer’s account. Police prosecutor, Garba Mohammed, explained that Okoh and
Amadi scanned the signatures of some customers, with the intention to use them
for withdrawals. The suspects did not go far in their scheme before they ran
out of luck. By then, they had withdrawn N250, 000 from the account of one L.
A. Mittee through one Amaechi Josiah, who is also being tried for alleged theft
in the same court.
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