A sales agent of Fidelity Bank Plc, Kehinde Olumide Agbabiaka, has started telling operatives of the Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, all he knows about how a staggering sum of N137million flew from personal and corporate accounts of a customer in Ibadan into his own.
Agbabiaka’s arrest was sequel to a petition jointly sent by the bank’s Regional Security Officer and the Cluster Control and Compliance Manager, alleging that the suspect suppressed, diverted and stole the said sum from the customer in Ibadan.
The petition, filed on August 20, 2019, alleged that the suspect committed the offence between January 2017 and July 2019.
Agbabiaka, who was the account officer attached to the customer, was said to be visiting the business premises of the victim weekly to collect cash with the understanding that he would remit same to his accounts domiciled in the bank’s Challenge, Ibadan branch.
But instead of depositing the money, the suspect was diverting the money for personal use. The petition also alleged that Agbabiaka remitted only a portion at different times and, on many occasions, diverted the whole sum to personal use.
To cover his crime, the suspect, according to the petition, would issue fictitious bank slips to deceive the customer that he truly deposited the sums.
This continued until the customer reviewed the statement of his account and reconciled the same with the cash collection register. It was then they discovered Agbabiaka’s fraudulent deeds, prompting the bank to put up the petition.
EFCC investigators have established a prima facie case of diversion and stealing against the suspect, revealing that he had used the suppressed sums to build houses, purchase cars, invest in fixed deposits and insurance policies. He also gave part of the loot to people as friendly loans.
Some of the items have been recovered and registered as exhibits.
The suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
