The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has given details of how an employee of Fidelity Bank, Ibadan zone, allegedly defrauded one of its customers of N137m.
The tale, if proved to be true in the court, is one from which bank customers have a lesson to learn in terms of how to relate with one’s account officer.
To what extent should one be close to him or her?
To what extent should one trust the account officer?
Here s the story:
Kehinde, Olumide Agbabiaka, was arrested upon a petition jointly written by the bank’s Regional Security Officer and the Cluster Control and Compliance Manager, in which it was alleged that the suspect suppressed, diverted the sum.
A statement by the EFCC indicated that Agbabiaka committed the offence between January 2017 and July 2019.
The report adds: “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.
“This continued until the customer reviewed the statement of his account and reconciled same with the cash collection register. It was then they discovered Agbabiaka’s fraudulent deeds, prompting the bank to put up the petition. So far, the EFCC investigators have established a prima facie case of diversion and stealing against the suspect.”
The EFCC further alleged that Agbabiaka had used the sums to build houses, purchase cars, invest in fixed deposits and insurance policies, saying he also gave part of the loot to people as friendly loans.
