THE Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has secured the conviction of a former staff of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, Oreoluwa Adesakin, for fraud.
Adesakin who was handed a cumulative 98 years in prison by Justice Muniru Olagunju of the Oyo State High Court on Monday was found guilty of committing financial fraud against her employers to the tune of N49,320,652.32, and an additional $368,203.00 belonging to the bank which she converted to her personal use.
Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity at the EFCC, who disclosed this in a statement emailed to The ICIR on Tuesday said Adesakin’s case was prosecuted by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Commission 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 FirstBank 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.”
Despite her plea of not guilty before the court, Uwujaren further stated that the presiding judge pronounced the convict guilty based on the overwhelming evidence provided by the EFCC before the court.
Commending the due diligence of the prosecuting counsel, the judge found Adesakin guilty of all the charges. She was sentenced to seven years in prison without an option of fine on each of the 14 counts, which will run concurrently.
In addition to her jail term, the convict is to also restitute to the FirstBank, through the EFCC, all the money she stole.
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 and another $368,203 for herself, which the bank only uncovered while reviewing its internal account.
Further investigation by the EFCC also established that the convict used part of the proceeds of her crime to acquire landed properties in different parts of Oyo State.
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