The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has returned ₦802,420,000 to First Bank Nigeria Plc, following its recovery from a larger sum of ₦1.3 billion traced to a system glitch at the bank.
The funds were intercepted by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC after a customer allegedly exploited technical errors in the bank’s system to gain unlawful access to the money. The suspect and his relationship manager have since been charged to court.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the commission said the recovered funds were traced to Ojo Eghosa Kingsley, who allegedly took unlawful possession of the money credited to his account.
According to the statement, First Bank had petitioned the EFCC after discovering that a system glitch led to the erroneous credit of over ₦1.3 billion into Kingsley’s account.
“Investigations revealed that upon receiving the funds, the suspect transferred substantial portions to the bank accounts of his mother, Itohan Ojo, and his sister, Edith Okoro Osaretin. He also used part of the money to complete a building project and fund a new flamboyant lifestyle,” the statement said.
The EFCC said the recovered funds were returned to the bank in the form of bank drafts after tracing and retrieving the money from the identified accounts.
While handing over the drafts, the Acting Director of the Benin Zonal Directorate, Deputy Commander of the EFCC (DCE) Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to fighting economic and financial crimes.
“The EFCC Establishment Act empowers us to trace and recover proceeds of crime and restitute victims. In this case, First Bank was the victim, and that is exactly what we have done,” Sa’ad said.
“We will continue to discharge our duties to ensure that fraudsters do not benefit from fraud and that economic and financial crimes are nipped in the bud.”
Receiving the drafts on behalf of First Bank, Olalere Sunday Ajayi, Business Manager of the bank in Benin, commended the EFCC for its swift and professional handling of the case.
Ajayi expressed the bank’s gratitude to the commission and described the EFCC as one of Nigeria’s most effective and reliable institutions.
