Lagos - The three former bank employees who have been appearing in court on a myriad of crimes bordering on conspiracy, forgery, theft an...
Lagos - The three former bank employees who have been appearing in court on a myriad of crimes bordering on conspiracy,
forgery, theft and criminal breach of trust have been sentenced to a combined 91 years in prison.
Suleiman Ibrahim Musa, Bilyaminu Usman and Lawal Suleiman have been convicted and sentenced at the Kebbi State High Court where they appeared on 16-count charge.
The convicts, who are former members of staff of FinBank (acquired by First City Monument Bank Plc in 2011), Birnin-Kebbi branch in Kebbi State, were first arraigned on July 21, 2010, and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Musa, who was then the head of operations, defrauded the bank of N101 707 000; Usman and Suleiman, both tellers connived to defraud the bank of N6 627 500 and N6 267 500 respectively. The crimes were committed between 2008 and 2010.
They had at different times debited the bank's customers by carrying out unauthorized withdrawals.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested them following a petition by the bank's management, after several customers lodged complaints alleging fraudulent deductions from their bank accounts.
They had backed up their claims with various documentary evidences - stamped deposits and investment certificates. After five years of trial, Justice Mairiga, having been convinced by the evidence brought before him by the prosecuting counsel, Aisha Habib, found them guilty of the charges.
Justice Ibrahim Mairiga passed sentence, sending Musa, Suleiman and Usman to 55 years, 29 years and seven years respectively to prison without an option of fine.
The judge also ordered the convicts to return the stolen money to the bank.
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