Ex-employees Stole N1.3bn From Customers, Witness Tells Court

Justice Tijani Ringim of the Federal High Court in Lagos has heard from a prosecution witness how two former employees of First Marina Trust Limited allegedly cloned the emails of several customers and defrauded them of N1.3 billion.

The witness, Anthony Onyeoghane, who is also an employee of the company, also told the judge that his former colleagues committed the alleged offence while they worked as marketing operators and relationship managers for First Marina Trust Limited.

Onyeoghane was testifying as a witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the resumed trial of defendants, Adeyemi Oluwaseun and Suleiman Yusuf.

The EFCC had arraigned them before the court on a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit identity theft, impersonation and cybercrime.

The two men have pleaded not guilty to the charge.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Monday, the prosecutor, Nnaemeka Omenwa, led the witness in evidence.

Onyeoghane told the court that he works as a chief risk officer for First Marina Trust Ltd, a financial institution regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He also informed the court that he had chaired a committee set up to investigate a case of internal fraud within the company, which was allegedly orchestrated by the defendants beginning on May 3, 2016.

The witness further testified that both defendants had connived to create email addresses of customers in a bid to liquidate them.

He alleged that following a change of this email, the second defendant acting as a customer of the company, wrote an email to himself at his official email address, instructing that the sum of N15 million be liquidated from the customer’s investment account.

The witness further testified that the second defendant had also instructed that the funds be transferred to one Olufemi Ajala who is his childhood friend.

Justice Ringim has adjourned the case to February 8, 2023 for continuation of the trial.