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Lukman Olabiyi
The sum of N8.7 million which was fraudulently withdrawn from the Union Bank Plc customer, Alexander Cherembem Okan, has been returned by the bank.
This was made known on Tuesday, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the Federal High Court, Lagos, while reviewing the fact of a criminal charge brought against a contract staff of the bank, Kazeem Alli, who was arrested and prosecuted in connection with the fraud.
The convict, Alli, was first arraigned before the court by the EFCC on October 22, 2018, on a three-count charge of conspiracy and cybercrime-related offences.
The convict, according to the EFCC, had on May 8, 2018, while still working as a staff of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, failed to obtain proper data of a customer of the bank in processing Unionmobile in respect of the account No. 0010807900.
He was also alleged to have impersonated one Alexander Cherembem Okan and fraudulently withdrawn the sum of N8, 677, 907.00 million from his account.
The offences according to the EFCC, are contrary to and punishable under Sections 22, 22(2) and 37 of the Cyber Crimes Prohibition Act, 2015.
He had pleaded not guilty to the allegations and was admitted to bail in the sum of N20 million with one surety and other conditions.
But due to the convict’s inability to meet the bail terms, he entered a plea bargain agreement with the EFCC and the three counts charges were reduced to a count, which he pleaded guilty to.
During the hearing of the plea bargain agreement and after his re-arraignment on the one-count charge, the presiding judge, Justice Chuka Obiozor, asked the EFCC to produce in court others who conspired to commit the fraud.
But the prosecutor, Ebuka Okogwu, informed the court that others arrested in connection with the fraud had paid back some monies.
At the resumed hearing of the matter today, the prosecutor told the court that the bank had repaid the fraud victim of the said money.
The prosecutor tendered before the court the document showing that the bank had indeed repaid the victim of the fraud the said sum and the document was admitted by the court.
Upon the submission of the prosecutor that the fraud victim had been restituted of the fraud sum, Justice Obiozor allowed the plea bargain agreement dated June 6, 2019, but filed June 10, 2019, and signed by the prosecutor, the convict and his counsel, Olafimihan Ogunbiyi.
Following the admissibility of the plea bargain agreement, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence the convict as charge.
However, the convict’s counsel, Ogunbiyi, in his allucutor, urged the court to tamper justice with mercy, as he was a first-time offender without any previous criminal record.
Olafimihan also told the court that the convict is a father of two, who has lost his banking profession due to the crime, adding that the court should let the sentencing of his client commence from October 22, when he was first arraigned.
Delivering judgment, Justice Obiozor held: “In the consequence of the plea bargain agreement of the defendant, the court is satisfied that the prosecution has duly proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“In accordance with Section 365(2) of ACJA 2015, I therefore convict the defendant as charged. He is hereby convicted.
“I have considered the plea for mercy, I have also noted that he is a first-time offender. According to Sections 416(2)(b) of ACJA, 2015, the convict is hereby sentence to one-year imprisonment from October 22, 2018.
“The convict shall file an undertaking of good behaviour with the EFCC.”
