UNBELIEVABLE: How This Banker Withdrew N50m From Customers' Accounts

The
Special
Fraud
Unit, Ikoyi,
Lagos
State, has
arrested
an
account
officer with Guaranty Trust Homes, Adeola
Olokojobi, in connection with a N50m fraud at the
financial institution.
Prior to his arrest, Olokojobi was said to be working
at the GT Homes, Saka Tinubu branch, Victoria
Island.
It was revealed that the SFU had received a petition
in October 2013, from a customer of the branch
where Olokojobi worked. The customer had alleged
that Olokojobi, who was his account officer, had
“not been forthcoming with his account balances.”
A statement by the SFU Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Tunde Ogunsakin, said, “The petitioner also alleged
that the balance given to him was at variance with
his actual balance in the account.
“An internal investigation conducted by GT Homes
into the account revealed that Olokojobi in April
2013, forged an instruction, transferring N15m from
the petitioner’s account, to an unknown account.
“The bank also discovered other various fraudulent
withdrawals made by the account officer from other
customers’ accounts in his care through fake
transfer instructions. It amounted to over N50m.
“He said the funds were used to finance his political
campaign, a proposed pure water company and
purchase of an uncompleted building at Sango-Ota,
Ogun State.
“Olokojobi in his confessional statement said he
had fraudulently withdrawn monies amounting to
N50,640,748 from the account of the customers by
transferring funds into the accounts of fictitious
customers and subsequently withdrawing same.”
A banking and finance graduate, Olokojobi told
PUNCH Metro that he joined GT Homes in 2009.
He, however, denied that he had fraudulently
transferred over N50m, insisting that instead, it was
N27m.
He said, “I didn’t have to forge the instructions from
GT homes customers. All I did was manipulate
them. What happens is that they usually send
instructions to the account officers by email,
requesting that some money be transferred to an
account of their choice. All I simply do is add
another million or two to the sum the customer
requested.
“It went unnoticed all this while because after using
the money to do some business transactions, I
always paid it back. I was into several businesses; I
would buy land and resell for profit.
“I got into trouble with this one because I withdrew
N15m at once from a customer’s account; I didn’t
take it bit by bit, but I meant to pay it back. In fact, I
had already started doing so before I was caught
and arrested. But the police are not right in saying
that the money I had withdrawn from customers
amounted to N50m; it is N27m.”
Ogunsakin, however, said the suspect would soon
be charged to court, where he could defend himself.