Justice Muniru Olagunju of Oyo High Court has sentenced a former staff of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Oreoluwa Adesakin, to a cumulative 98 years in prison for fraud.
Bibian Anekwe News reports that the ex-banker was found to have committed financial fraud against her employers to the tune of N49,320,652.32 and an additional $368,203.00 (141,021,749.00) approximately N190,342,401.32 belonging to the bank, which she converted to personal use.
The convict, a female ex-banker was prosecuted by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, on 14-count charges bordering on stealing, forgery, and fraudulent accounting.
One of the charges read: “That you Oreoluwa Adesakin sometime between the months of May 2013 and November 2013, at Ibadan within the Ibadan Judicial Division, whilst being a staff of First Bank PLC stole the sum of N25,974,116.13 from First Bank PLC MoneyGram Payment Naira Account, the property of First bank PLC.”
The former First Bank staff pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which necessitated her trial. Usman Murtala, the prosecution counsel, presented every vital document and witnesses which nailed the convict.
Justice Olagunju in his ruling said the EFCC amassed a pool of incontrovertible evidence against the convict and did a diligent investigation and prosecution.
The presiding judge pronounced the former First Bank staff guilty of all the charges, sentencing her to seven years in prison without an option of fine on each of the 14 counts, which will run concurrently.
Apart from the jail term, the ex-banker is also to restitute the First Bank, through the EFCC, all the money she stole.
Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, said the convict was arraigned April 4, 2014, by the EFCC following a conclusion of investigations against her which arose from a petition from her former employer, dated December 18, 2013.
First Bank in the petition, alleged that Adesakin, as its Money Transfer Operator, saddled with the responsibility of effecting payments through Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram platforms, fraudulently manipulated accounting and withdrew N49,320,652.32 and another $368,203.00 for herself, which the bank only uncovered while reviewing its internal account.
The anti-graft agency, on the other hand, was also able to establish that the convict used part of the proceeds of her crime to acquire landed properties in different parts of Oyo State.
