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Between January 2017 and July 2019, Kehinde Olumide Agbabiaka, who was an account officer from Fidelity Bank, succeeded in suppressing, diverting and stealing N137million belonging to the customer he was attached to, a petition filed on August 20, 2019 says.
Agbabiaka, who has now been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan zonal office, was said to be visiting the business premises of the victim weekly to collect cash with the understanding that he would remit same to his personal and corporate accounts domiciled in the bank’s Challenge, Ibadan branch.
The petition which was jointly filed by Fidelity Bank’s Regional Security Officer and the Cluster Control and Compliance Manager, said that instead of depositing the money, Agbabiaka was said to have at different times remitted only a portion and on many occasions diverted the whole sum to personal use.
In order to cover his criminal acts, the suspect was said to have issued fictitious bank slips to deceive the customer that he truly deposited the sums.
This continued until the customer reviewed the statement of his account and reconciled same with the cash collection register. It was then they discovered Agbabiaka’s fraudulent deeds, prompting the bank to put up the petition.
In a release on Monday, the EFCC said its investigators have established a prima facie case of diversion and stealing against the suspect.
According to the anti-graft agendy, further investigations also revealed that he had used the suppressed sums to build houses, purchase cars, invest in fixed deposits and insurance policies. He also gave part of the loot to people as friendly loans.
Some of the items have been recovered and registered as exhibits, the EFCC said, adding that the suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.