Ex-banker bags 7 years jail term over N187 million fraud
Story from Kenneth AFOR, Lagos
Oreoluwa Adesakin, a former staff of First Bank of Nigeria Limited was on Wednesday at a High Court in Oyo State sentenced to seven years imprisonment cumulatively after being convicted of her engagement of fraud worth over N187 million while working with the financial institution.
Adesakin’s legal tussle lasted for about seven years, she was arraigned on April 4, 2020 after thorough investigations by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).
The court also ruled directing her to pay First Bank through the anti-graft agency all the money she has embezzled from the bank coffers.
According to the prosecutor, the accused embezzled in trenches N49,320,652 and $368,203 (N138, 812, 531) respectively at different times monies owned by the financial institution and converted to personal use in 2013.
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Also they gathered that the convict used proceeds of the embezzled monies to acquire landed properties in different parts of Oyo State.
However, Adesakin pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against her, meanwhile, Justice Muniru Olagunju, noted that (EFCC) gathered a pool of incontrovertible evidence against the convict during the four months investigation.
Evidently, Justice Olagunju further pronounced Adesakin guilty of the 14-count charges levelled against her, bordering on stealing, forgery as well as fraudulent accounting and sentenced her to seven years jail term without an option of fine on each of the 14 counts, which would run concurrently.
“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 (Twenty Five Million, Nine Hundred and Seventy Four Thousand, One Hundred and Sixteen Naira, Thirteen Kobo) from First Bank PLC MoneyGram Payment Naira Account, property of First bank PLC,” one of the charges read against her.
Furthermore, prosecution counsel, Usman Murtala, while arguing his case, tendered every vital document and witnesses which nailed the convict, showing that as the bank Money Transfer Operator, saddled with the responsibility of effecting payments through Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram platforms, Adesakinfraudulently manipulated the bank’s account and withdrew the total sums of N49,320,652.32 and another $368,203.00 for herself, which the bank only uncovered while reviewing its internal account.