1st Bank Staff Jailed 98 Years for Stealing N49M, $368,000

The  convict, Oreoluwa Adesakin

1st Bank Staff Jailed 98 Years for Stealing N49M, $368,000

A staff of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Oreoluwa Adesakin, has been convicted and sentenced to 98 years in prison for stealing.

Oreoluwa was also ordered to restitute all the stolen monies to her former employer, First Bank Plc, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft agency that prosecuted her.

The judgment on the convict was passed by Justice Muniru Olagunju of the Oyo State High Court, after founding Oreoluwa guilty of stealing from First Bank N49, 320, 652.32 million and another $368,203 belonging to the bank which she fraudulently converted to her personal purse.

Oreoluwa was arraigned before the court by the Ibadan Zone of the EFCC on 14 courts charge of bordering on stealing, forgery and fraudulent accounting.

One of the charges says: “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, a property of First bank PLC.”

She pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which necessitated her trial.

Prosecution counsel, Usman Murtala in arguing his case, presented every vital document and witnesses which nailed the convict.

The judge noted that the EFCC amassed a pool of incontrovertible evidence against the convict and did a diligent investigation and prosecution. He pronounced Adesakin 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.

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.

The bank alleged in the petition 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 the total sums of N49, 320, 652, 32 million and another $368, 203.00 for herself, which the bank only uncovered while reviewing its internal account.

The EFCC 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.

editor

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