Female banker bags 98 years in jail for stealing bank’s N49m, $368,000

Caught stealing N49.3 million and another $368,203 belonging to her employer, First Bank Plc, a woman, Oreoluwa Adesakin, has bagged 98 years imprisonment in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

Adesakin, who is in her 50s, was found guilty of a 14-count charge bordering on stealing, forgery and fraudulent accounting.

She stole N25.97 million from First Bank MoneyGram payment naira account and converted the money to personal use, according to Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Persecondnews reports that Prosecutor Usman Murtala had presented vital exhibits and witnesses during the six-year trial.

Adesakin committed the offence sometime between May 2013 and November 2013 in Ibadan.

The bank also alleged in a petition to the EFCC that Adesakin, as its money transfer operator saddled with the responsibility of effecting payment through Western Union Money Transfer and MoneyGram platforms, fraudulently manipulated the accounting system and withdrew the sums of N49.32 million and $368,203.

Adesakin had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In his judgment, Justice Muniru Olagunju of an lbadan High Court held that the EFCC’s evidences against the convict were clear and showed that the agency did a diligent investigation of the case.

The judge found Adesakin guilty of all the charges and sentenced her to seven years on each of the 14 counts, totalling 98 years.

The sentences are to run concurrently while the convict is to pay restitution of the money she stole to First Bank through the EFCC.

The bank staff was arraigned on April 4, 2014 by the EFCC and had used part of the proceeds of her crime to acquire landed property in different parts of Oyo State.