By Dipo Olowookere
An employee of Access Bank Plc, Mr Arthur Ezindu, has narrated how a former Account General Manager (AGM) of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, which was acquired by Access Bank in 2012, Mr Olayinka Sanni, allegedly stole the sum of N1.2 billion from several accounts belonging to customers of the bank.
The matter is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Ikeja High Court, Lagos.
Mr Ezindu, who testified as prosecution witness before the court while being led in evidence by the EFCC lawyer, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, claimed Mr Sanni withdrew the said sum of money from different customers’ accounts without their consent and thereafter issued them a forged document of confirmation which he claimed emanated from the bank.
He told the Special Offences Court that Mr Sanni, who was his boss at the time of the incident, was a regional Executive, Lagos Mainland North at Intercontinental bank, now Access Bank.
According to him, “The bank received several complaints from several customers whose accounts were debited without their consent.
“Some of these customers’ accounts include: the Falana Falana Chambers; Babington Junior Seminary; Viju Industries; Mechano Nigeria, PWU Nigeria; Elizade Nigeria; Murhi international Group.
“However, during the preliminary investigation, we noticed that all the complains were centered on our staff, Olayinka Sanni.
“We invited him to the head office for questioning but he claimed that everything was under control. He told us not to bother investigating the matter on the grounds that there was more behind what was happening.
“So since he was our senior officer, being the AGM at that time, we decided to petition his case to the EFCC for proper investigation.
When asked how much was involved as at the time the bank petitioned for EFCC, Ezindu replied, “The total sum was about N1.2 billion.”
The prosecution thereafter tendered the petition dated September 2011 in evidence.
Meanwhile, the two defendants were also arraigned alongside a company, Sidaw Ventures Limited, which was allegedly used to transfer and cash out the stolen funds.
The employee further said: “During the preliminary investigation, the bank discovered that the company, Sidaw had Adamu as its signatory while Sanni indirectly manages the account.
“Some of the handwriting on the cheques belong to Sanni. He was the one indirectly signing and filling the cheques for Adamu.”
