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 gathered 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statement said he had fraudulently withdrawn monies amounting to N50,640,748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 said 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.
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