EFCC closes case in N13m fraud case

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Wednesday, closed its case against Oluwole Olutimehin, who is standing trial for allegedly stealing N13.29m from Sterling Bank Plc.

Olutimehin is standing trial before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.

The defendant is facing a count of fraudulent conversion of N13,29,000, preferred against him by the EFCC.

Olutimehin was first arraigned on September 20, 2022, before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo. However, the case was reassigned to Justice Oshodi following Justice Taiwo’s retirement.

The EFCC alleged that Olutimehin, on or about  September 15, 2021, in Lagos, fraudulently converted the sum of N13,290,000.00, property of Sterling Bank Plc, to his use.

The commission said the offences committed contravened Section 280 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which is punishable under Section 287 of the same law.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, the EFCC called its second prosecution witness, an internal auditor at Sterling Bank, Olaniyi Olaleye.

Led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, S.I. Suleiman, Olaleye narrated the events leading to the case.

According to him, the bank discovered irregularities in its OneBank app, an Internet banking platform that allows customers to open accounts and perform online transactions.

“In September 2021, we noticed abnormalities in the app, which allowed unauthorised withdrawals of N13.29m, involving multiple banks, including GTB, Wema, and Access,” he said.

Olaleye told Justice Oshodi that Sterling Bank filed a petition to the EFCC to investigate the issue.

“I co-signed the petition and provided the EFCC with statements of account linked to the transactions. Exhibits A and B, which include the petition and the account details of the defendant, were submitted as evidence,” he added.

Exhibits A and B were shown to the witness which he identified as their petition alongside a copy of account details of the defendant with account number 0085006574.

When asked how the bank app. was operated. He explained that the OneBank app’s wallet account feature allowed customers to perform transactions with a daily limit of N500,000.

However, the app breach enabled transactions far exceeding this limit.