Kemisola Oye
AN internal auditor with Sterling Bank Plc, Olaniyi Olaleye has told a Lagos Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja of how Oluwole Olutimehin stole Thirteen Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira (N13,290,000.00) from the bank.
Olaleye narrated this before Justice Rahman Oshodi in an ongoing trial of Olutimehin who was charged with stealing by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The prosecution witness was led in evidence by the EFCC counsel,
Olutimehin is standing trial on a one-count charge bordering on stealing contrary to Section 280 of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State, 2015 and punishable under Section 287 of the same Act
The defendant was initially arraigned before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the same division of the court on 20 September 2022.
However, the trial could not commence before the judge retired, prompting the re-assignment of the case to Justice Oshodi.
The EFCC alleged that the defendant, Olutimehin on or about 15 September 2021, in Lagos fraudulently converted to his use the sum of Thirteen Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira (N13,290,000.00) property of Sterling Bank Plc
At the resumed hearing today the prosecution counsel, Suleiman Suleiman informed the court of the presence of the second prosecution witness.
Olaleye told the court that the bank sent a petition to EFCC to investigate some abnormalities that happened when their One Customer Bank App had issues that led to the loss of several millions of Naira in the bank.
He said that Sterling Bank Plc have an Internet operation called, ” One Customer Bank App‘ which allows users to open an account or withdraw online.
According to him, sometime in September 2021, abnormalities were shown in the App and the user of the App, Oluwole Olutimehin and others were able to do transactions with the amount withdrawal of over N13 million with several banks, GTB, Wema Bank, and Access Bank.
He further testified that the petition was written to that effect to the EFCC for investigation of the abnormalities in all the accounts and that he co-signed the petition. He said all the statements of accounts were sent to the EFCC.
When Exhibits A and B were shown to him, he identified it as the petition sent along with a copy of account details of the defendant with account number 0085006574.
In his explanation of how the One Customer Bank App operates, he said, “Wallet account of One Bank App allowed customers to operate transactions and as at the time of this transaction, the maximum transaction for a customer was N500,000.00”.
When the witness was cross-examined by the defendant’s counsel, Mr O. O. Odusanya, he insisted that there was a breach of the bank app. He said that it led to these abnormalities in transactions.
He confirmed that during investigations, as of 21 September 2021, they have recovered N7.3 million from the defendant, with an outstanding balance of N6.3 million, noting that some were recovered from the defendant’s bank account.
The witness said that with the investigation so far, there were other bank staff members involved and that from records there are 300 accounts that were involved and the defendant was one of them.
Thereafter, Suleiman informed the court that the prosecution was closing its case.
The trial judge, Justice Oshodi subsequently adjourned the matter to 14 February 2025 for the defence to open its case.
Eighteen-Eleven Media