Bank Staff Steals N137m From Customer, Purchases Houses, Luxury Cars

A Sales Agent with Fidelity Bank, Kehinde Olumide Agbabiaka has been arrested by the Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Agbabiaka was arrested by the anti-graft agency following a petition jointly penned by the bank’s Regional Security Officer and the Cluster Control and Compliance Manager in which it was alleged that the suspect suppressed, diverted and stole a total sum of N137,000,000(One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Million Naira) from personal and corporate accounts of a customer in Ibadan.

According to a statement on the commission’s facebook page, dated 16 September 2019, the petition, which was filed on 20 August alleged that Agbabiaka committed the offence between January 2017 and July 2019.

The statement read in part: “The suspect, who was the account officer attached to the customer, was said to be visiting the business premises of the victim weekly to collect cash with the understanding that he would remit same to his accounts domiciled in the bank’s Challenge, Ibadan branch.

“But, instead of depositing the money, Agbabiaka was said to have at different times remitted only a portion and on many occasions diverted the whole sum to personal use.

“In order to cover his criminal acts, the suspect, according to the petition, would rather issue fictitious bank slips to deceive the customer that he truly deposited the sums.”

The statement added that the suspect continued his deeds until the customer reviewed the statement of his account and reconciled same with the cash collection register, noting that it was then they discovered Agbabiaka’s fraudulent actions, prompting the bank to put up the petition.

The EFCC said its investigators have so far established a prima facie case of diversion and stealing against the suspect.

The commission maintained that further investigations also revealed that he had used the money to build houses, purchase cars, invest in fixed deposits and insurance policies. 

He also gave part of the loot to people as friendly loans. Some of the items have been recovered and registered as exhibits.

The suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.