EFCC Returns Recovered ₦802.4m To First Bank •

The Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, handed over the sum of ₦802,420,000 to First Bank Nigeria Plc.

The money, according to a statement, was recovered from a suspect, Ojo Eghosa Kingsley, who took unlawful possession of over ₦1.3 billion belonging to the bank.

It said that the bank, in its petition to the EFCC, had alleged that system glitches led it to erroneously credit the account of Kingsley, a customer of the bank, with the said amount.

The agency said that in its investigation, it discovered that the suspect, upon the receipt of the money, transferred a good measure of it to the bank accounts of his mother, Itohan Ojo, and that of his sister, Edith Okoro Osaretin.

The EFCC stated that the Suspect also committed part of the money to the completion of his building project and the funding of a new, flamboyant lifestyle.

“With the recovery of the money from the identified bank accounts, the EFCC handed it over in drafts to First Bank,” the statement signed by the Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Tuesday.

The Acting Director, Benin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad, while handing over the money, stated that the EFCC would continue to discharge its mandate effectively in the overall interests of the society.

“The EFCC Establishment Act empowers us to trace and recover proceeds of crime and restitute the victim. In this case, First Bank was the victim, and that is exactly what we have done.

“We will continue to discharge our duties to ensure that fraudsters do not benefit from fraud and that economic and financial crimes are nipped in the bud.

“Kingsley and all other suspects in the matter have been charged in court for stealing by the EFCC,” it added.