CITY NEWS 3 bank managers charged over N48.636m fraud

Three top management staffers of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) have been arrested for alleged involvement in an illegal deal worth N48,635,840 million, property of the bank.

The bank managers Omotayo Oluseyi, 38; Ebenezer Efunsola, 50; and Uchenna Ugwuibe, 45 – were arrested at the weekend by detectives from the Lion Building police division, Lagos Island, based on a report against them and had been arraigned before an Igbosere, Lagos, magistrate’s court on a two-count charge of felony, to wit, stealing.

Police prosecutor, Oluwafemi Adeleye, told the court that the accused persons committed the offence between January 2016 and May 2017 at the FCMB branch located on Macarthy Street, Onikan, Lagos Island.

Adeleye alleged that the accused persons betrayed the trust reposed in them by their employer as operation managers at the Macarthy branch of the bank by allegedly conspiring to steal the sum of N48.63m from their employer’s account.

He said the management of FCMB uncovered the fraud when they audited their account books.

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime. Their counsels, Loveline Ezemegbu and Helen Ibeji, prayed the court to grant them bail in the liberal terms, promising they would not jump bail if granted.

Chief Magistrate B.A. Sonuga granted the defendants bail in the sum of N5m each with two sureties each who must be bankers in like sum.

Sonuga also directed that the sureties must each deposit the sum of N1m in the Chief Court Registrar’s account, as well as deposit their international passports with the court.

The magistrate adjourned the case till January 13, 2018 and ordered that the defendants be kept at the Ikoyi Prison till they were able to fulfil the bail conditions.