Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) have arrested two young men identified as Isaiah Friday and
Azzaior Samuel for allegedly defrauding a bank the sum of N2.05b. The suspects
who claimed to be undergraduates of the University of Jos
The suspects were also accused of being members
of a syndicate that specialised in breaking into the computer data base of
financial institutions to carry out dry posting of funds…
The Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson
Uwujaren, said the suspects were arrested in Lagos
Their arrest comes on the heels of a petition
which the commission received from Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Marina, Lagos, in
January 2013, alleging that a criminal attack had been launched on its data
base known as ‘Flexcube’, by yet-to-be-identified criminals who falsified the
bank records and accounts and created unjustified huge opening balances in
several accounts across the bank’s branches. They subsequently transferred
funds from those accounts to several accounts in other banks.
The petition, which was signed by one A.F
Olufade, Head of Fraud Investigation at the bank, said cash withdrawals and
electronic transfers totalling N2.05bn was involved in the scam.
It was learnt that EFCC initial investigation
showed that Friday, who was carrying out computer system maintenance services
for one of the Union Bank branches in Jos, Plateau State
Investigations further revealed that Samuel
introduced Friday to Mahmoud, who is the mastermind of the fraud with others
now at large.
Mahmoud and other collaborators told Friday that
they needed access to the bank’s database in order to carry out some postings.
They promised to give Friday N.5m if the deal succeeded. Friday agreed. On the
day the crime was committed, he told people at the bank that Samuel was his
colleague who had accompanied him to work.
It was learnt that after the gang had succeeded
in gaining access to the bank’s premises, it carried out the postings to six
different company accounts domiciled in Union Bank’s Marina
branch in Lagos
The accounts are Gona Bureau De Change Limited,
Jaxmine Bureau De Change Limited, Dan Kawu Bureau De Change Limited, Godswill
Great Communications, ZHG Services Limited and A and B Console Limited. The
postings were carried out and the syndicate thereafter went to the bank to
withdraw all the funds. Friday was paid as promised and other syndicate members
now at large shared the remaining balance.
The EFCC spokesman added that the commission had
been able to recover $2,129,900 and
another N134,542, from the fraudsters.
Other items recovered are furniture worth N10m
from Salihu Liman’s one bedroom apartment in Yaba, Lagos ;
four vehicles, landed properties in Kano and Kaduna and a four-bedroom duplex worth N45m in Lagos
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