Human
rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has stated that the N306 million stolen
from the Falana and Falana Chambers’ account was returned by the bank to
avoid a legal action.
A
statement released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, on Thursday announced that it had arrested two suspects involved
in a N1.5 billion bank fraud.
Olayinka
Sanni, a former manager at Intercontinental Bank (now owned by Access
Bank), and Oyebode Atoyebi, Personal Assistant to Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the
Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, were arrested by the
commission for conspiracy, stealing, and forgery.
“I confirm that the sum of N306 million was stolen from our clients’ account by the officer,” said Mr. Falana.
“But I wish to say that the management of the bank refunded the money to avoid a legal action from our chambers,” he added.
Mr.
Sanni, who also operates a Bureau de Change, SIDAW Ventures, allegedly
transferred various sums of money into his SIDAW account without the
bank’s customer’s consent, the EFCC said.
In
addition to the N306 million transferred from the account of Falana and
Falana Chambers, the suspect also allegedly transferred N65 million
from the account of Babington Junior Seminary; N40 million from P.W.
Nigeria Limited’s account; N15 million from Mikano International’s
account; N20 million from Viju Industries Limited’s account, and N1.2
billion from Murhi International Limited into his company’s account.
“Besides,
Sanni also collected the sum of $461,200 USD from one Chukwurah Nkiru,
who sold it to him for the equivalent of N76, 559,200 but was not paid.
“Sanni
is also embroiled in a foreign exchange scam where his SIDAW Ventures
account was used to handle the sum of N104, 405, 000 where only
N72,229,000 worth of foreign exchange was paid to the customer leaving a
balance of N32, 185, 000 being hotly contested between his firm and the
customer,” read the statement signed by Wilson Uwujaren, the
commission’s Spokesperson.
Mr.
Atoyebi, who is also enmeshed in a N501 million money laundering charge
alongside Mr. Ikuforiji, was arrested for conspiracy and complicity,
having allowed Mr. Sanni to use his name and passport-sized photograph
to open an account in SIDAW Ventures Limited in the name of Akanmu
Babatunde.
“With this fictitious name, Sanni brokered many shady deals and duped many innocent people,” the commission stated.
The EFCC said that the duo will be arraigned in court “soon.”
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