Smart Thieves: How a Lagos Bank Manager and Accomplice Diverted Customers' N14m (Photo)

Posted by Odinaka on Fri 12th Aug, 2016 - tori.ng

The gallant officers of the police force in Lagos have arrested an ex-manager of Ecobank Nigeria Plc for allegedly colluding with a suspected fraudster to defraud two customers of the bank.

The suspects

A 41-year-old man, Ikechukwu Aghanenu, who is a former manager of Ecobank Nigeria Plc in the Ejigbo branch area of Lagos state has been arrested by the Nigerian Police in the state for allegedly colluding with a suspected fraudster identified as Anthony Okpala, to defraud two customers of the bank of N14 million.

The defrauded customers are Mrs. Oluremi Egunjobi (now late), and one Rabiu Lawal, who is based in the United Kingdom.

According to a report by Punch Metro, the suspects who were arrested on Wednesday, reportedly diverted N4.014m from the deceased’s bank account 5323007058, while N10m was said to have been fraudulently withdrawn from Lawal’s account, 2741128259.

34-year-old Okpala and one other suspect at large, had presented themselves to Aghanenu as the relatives of the deceased with some forged documents authorising the bank to release the sum.

The publication further reported that the deal was perfected between September and November, 2015 and the money was withdrawn from late Egunjobi’s account. Within the same period, the police said Okpala paraded himself as a business partner of Lawal and allegedly colluded with Aghanenu to withdraw N10m from Lawal’s account in tranches.

It was gathered from a police source that investigation of the alleged fraud commenced after a lawyer to the deceased’s relatives and Lawal respectively lodged complaints to the bank, adding that the manager had been sacked.

“The bank reported the fraud to the police and in the course of investigation, it was discovered that the fraudulent transactions were carried out by Okpala with the knowledge of the ex-manager and others at large.

“Okpala presented himself and another suspect at the Ecobank’s branch in Ejigbo as relatives of the late Oluremi (Egunjobi) and instructed the bank to liquidate her account, which was done through the help of the ex-manager. But he (Aghanenu) denied knowing Okpala.

“The other victim, Lawal, works in UK and saves money at the bank with the hope of using the money to invest when he relocates to Nigeria. It was when he checked his account balance that he discovered the withdrawals and complained to the bank,” the source said.

It was learnt that a team of policemen from the Ikoyi division led by one Sergeant Damian Oguinye, picked up Aghanenu and Okpala on Wednesday at the Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s Court, where the latter was allegedly facing another fraud trial.