2 bank managers arrested over fraud N661m

By Soni Daniel

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested two Union Bank of Nigeria managers for allegedly stealing the sum of N661million from the bank.
The commission said in a statement released by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren in Abuja on Tuesday said that the duo of Samuel Obende,  a branch Manager and Rabiu Alhasan Dawaki,  Head of Operation stole the money in the course of their daily operations.
According to the EFCC, the two managers, who are both serving at a  Union Bank in Kano, reportedly abused their positions to perfect the fraud.
The two men who were saddled with the responsibility of evacuating and supplying cash to 17 branches of the bank in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa States, conspired and made away with the said amount without the knowledge of their employers.
The commission further revealed that in a bid to cover their tracks, the two managers fabricated accounting entries, which deceitfully showed that all the monies were delivered to the respective branches.
The commission said the two men were being interrogated with a view to prosecuting them in court.
It will be recalled that Nigeria lost at least N4.52 billion to a reported 3,380 fraud cases involving N17.97 billion in 2012, according to the annual report of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
The report said, “The expected/contingent loss increased by N455 million or10.9 per cent as against N4.072 billion reported in 2011.”
“Notwithstanding the 43.7 per cent increase in the number of reported fraud cases from 2,352 in 2011 to 3,380 in 2012, the amount involved decreased by 36.4 per cent from N28.40 billion in 2011 to N18.04 billion in 2012,” the report said.
In 2013, Nigerian banks lost N40bn to cybercrimes, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Chief Information Security Officer, CBN, Mr. Taiwo Longe, made this disclosure at the first National Cyber Security Forum in Lagos. The forum was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.