Man Jailed Over Refusal To Refund N1.5bn Mistakenly Credited

A customer of a commercial bank in Benin City, Edo State, Ojo Eghosa Kingsley, has been convicted by an Edo State High Court for refusing to refund N1.5 billion mistakenly credited to his account.

Kingsley was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of stealing and fraudulent conversion.

Justice W. I. Aziegbemhin sentenced him to one year imprisonment or a N5 million fine.

The court also ordered him to refund N272.25 million, being the outstanding balance.

The EFCC had earlier recovered over N1.1 billion from his account and those of his relatives.

Kingsley signed an undertaking to maintain good behaviour upon fulfilling the court’s conditions.

The charge against him read: ‘That you Ojo Eghosa Kingsley (m) sometime between June 2025 and November 2025 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did steal the aggregate sum of N1,507,502,182.24, property of First Bank Plc by fraudulently converting the said sum to your own use, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 387(1) of Criminal Law of Edo State 2022 and punishable under Section 394 of the same Law”.

He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him, which prompted the prosecution counsel, M. S. Dahiru, to pray the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.

However, his counsel pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that the defendant had become remorseful for his actions.

Justice Aziegbemhin convicted and sentenced Ojo Eghosa Kingsley to one year imprisonment or a fine of N5 million.

The court also ordered the convict to restitute First Bank Plc with the sum N272, 252,193,59 within a stipulated period of time, being the balance of the N1.5 billion.

During the investigation, the EFCC recovered the sum of N802,420,000 from various bank accounts traced to the defendant, his mother, and his sister, and handed it over to the bank by the acting zonal director of the Benin Zonal Directorate of the commission.