Justice Ayo Emmanuel of a Federal High
Court, Ibadan, on Tuesday remanded six officials of the Central Bank of
Nigeria
arraigned for stealing and circulating mutilated Naira notes
meant for destruction by the apex bank.
The six — Patience Okoro, Afolabi
Johnson, Ilori Sunday, Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Adeola and Fatai
Yusuf — were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
charged for conspiracy, diversion and stealing of mutilated naira notes
worth N8bn.
They were also accused of replacing the
mutilated currencies with cut-to-size newspapers and converting the
money to their personal use.
Others
charged alongside the CBN officials were Kayode Philips, Salami Ibrahim
and Odiah Emmanuel. They were charged with conspiracy with other
officials of CBN and other banks.
Two others-Roy Akinsiku and O. Sobowale-were said to be at large.
Counsels for the accused persons made
oral applications for bail but the judge refused the applications and
ordered that the accused be remanded in the EFCC office or at the
Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku Police Division, Ibadan.
Justice Emmanuel has also fixed Tuesday,
June 9, 2015 for argument of the written bail applications and fixed
July 6 and 7, 2015 for the commencement of trial.
The CBN had said that some of its
official had been investigated and found to have compromised their
integrity by stealing and circulating mutilated currency billed for
destruction.
“During a routine internal audit of the
bank’s cash destruction activities in September 2014, the CBN
Briquetting Panel comprising senior bank staff from different branches
noticed some anomalies at the Ibadan branch, and immediately reported
this to the bank’s management. On further investigation ordered by the
governor, it was discovered that a systematic scheme, which has been on
for several years, was being run in which mutilated higher denomination
notes originally meant for destruction were swapped with lower
denomination currencies,” the apex bank had said in a statement.
The EFCC prosecution team led by Rotimi
Jacobs (SAN) included the immediate past Commissioner for Justice and
Attorney General in Oyo State, Mr. Adebayo Ojo; A. Adebisi, Sunday
Aborisade, Rotimi Oye, O.M. Atoyebi, Sola Olanibiire.
The accused persons were represented by
K.A. Lawal, Bola Alabi, A.O. Ajayi, Olayinka Bolanle, and B.B.M. Ashie
of Olalekan Ojo Chambers.
The five count charge read to the
accused persons said they committed an offence under Section 7 (2) of
the Bank Employees (Declaration of Assets) Act Cap. B1 Laws of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
One of the counts against the bank
officials read, “The accused persons on or about 5th August, 2014 in
Ibadan within the jurisdiction of this honourable court engaged in
corrupt practices when they replaced the content of a box of N1,000
notes denomination in a total sum of N10m marked as ‘Counted Audited
Dirty’ meant for briquetting with newspapers and which sum you converted
to your own use and you thereby committed an offence punishable under
Section 1 (2) (a) and Section 10 (1) of the Recovery of Public Property
(Special Provision) Act Cap. R4 Laws of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.”
Source:Punch Newspaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment