The convict was arraigned before
Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye alongside six others in July 2015 for conspiring among
them to steal over N30m from the bank account of a deceased customer of a bank
where the convict works.
Mr. Olawale Garuba |
The fraud was uncovered by the bank
when they discovered that some of their employees, including the convict had
connived with proxies to steal from a dormant account of one of the bank’s
customers.
Upon the discovery of the fraud, the
bank apprehended the employee and handed them over to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission for investigation and prosecution.
Upon their arraignment, they pleaded
not guilty to 18 counts of fraud. Subsequently, Justice Ipaye refused their
bail application and remanded them in prison custody.
However, on June 2, 2016, the convict
changed his plea from ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty’. He was immediately convicted by
Justice Ipaye, who adjourned the case till Wednesday for sentencing. Counsel
representing the convict, Olanrewaju Ajanaku, pleaded with the court to tamper
justice with mercy in sentencing his client. He told the court that his client
was a remorseful first time offender with a young wife and two little children.
However, prosecution counsel, Abba
Mohammed, urged the court to consider the three-way traffic while tampering
justice with mercy. That is the interests of the court, the victim and the
convict.
After listening to the prayers of
counsel, Justice Ipaye said despite the remorse shown by the convict, she has
no sympathy for him as he compromised his position as a banker to steal from a
deceased customer whose money would have been used by the family she left
behind.
She added that the convict allowed
his greed to overcome him and risk losing the job that thousands of job seekers
were craving. She found the convict guilty on 13 of the 18 counts, and
sentenced him to three years imprisonment on each count. The sentences are to
run concurrently from the date of his first detention, which is July 24, 2015.
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