Woman bags 98yrs for stealing bank’s N49m and $368,000

A busted staff of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Oreoluwa Adesakin, has been convicted for fraud and handed a total term of 98 years in prison by Justice Muniru Olagunju of the Oyo State High Court. 

But she will spend just seven years in jail. Adesakin was found to have committed financial fraud against First Bank to the tune of N49,320,652.32.

 She also stole $368,203.00 belonging to the bank, which she converted to her personal use. Adesakin, before she was busted by the bank and sacked, was its Money Transfer Operator, saddled with the responsibility of effecting payments through Western Union Money Transfer and MoneyGram platforms,

 The convict was prosecuted by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), on a 14-count charge, bordering on stealing, forgery and fraudulent accounting. One of the counts 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 (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.”

 She pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecution counsel, Usman Murtala presented every vital document and witnesses which nailed the convict. Justice Olagunju noted that the EFCC presented incontrovertible evidence against the convict and did a diligent investigation and prosecution. He thus pronounced Adesakin guilty of all the counts. He sentenced her to seven years in prison without an option of fine on each of the 14 counts. 

The sentencing will run concurrently. Apart from the jail term, the convict is also to restitute the First Bank, 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 fraudulently manipulated its Moneygram accounting and withdrew N49,320,652.32 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.