A former staff of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, Oreoluwa Adesakin, has been sentenced to 98 years in prison by an Oyo State High Court for fraud.
Justice Muniru Olagunju handed the cumulative sentence to Adesakin for defrauding her employers to the tune of N49,320,652.32 and an additional $368,203.00 belonging to the bank, which she converted to personal use.
She was charged before the court by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) 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.”
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She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Prosecution counsel, Usman Murtala, presented vital document and witnesses to prove the Commission’s case.
In his judgement, Justice Olagunju noted that the EFCC provided a pool of incontrovertible evidence against the convict and did a diligent investigation and prosecution.
He pronounced Adesakin guilty of all the charges and thereafter sentenced her to seven years in prison without an option of fine on each of the 14 counts.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Apart from the jail term, the judge ordered that Adesakin should refund to the First Bank, through the EFCC, all the money she stole.
According to EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who disclosed this, the convict was arraigned on April 4, 2014, by the EFCC after investigations against were concluded.
Her arrest and trial followed a petition against her by her former employer, dated December 18, 2013.
In the petition, the bank 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.
Uwujaren, stated that the EFCC was able to establish that the convict used part of the proceeds of her crime to acquire landed properties in different parts of Oyo State.
