LAGOS – Two staff of a new generation bank, Ebele Bernardine Okpala and Perpetua Onyeto, have been arraigned before a Lagos Federal High Court, on charges bordering on alleged conspiracy, theft, money laundering and obtaining the sum of N35 million by false presence.
The two bankers were arraigned by the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The prosecutor, Barrister Eliot Ejie, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), told the court that the two bankers committed the offences sometimes in July 2023.
CSP Ejie told the court that the first defendant, Ebele Bernardine Okpala, in connivance with the second defendant, Perpetua Onyeto, who worked at the branch of the bank in Anambra State, fraudulently lifted a lien placed on bank’s customer’s account and transferred the money to her account number account .
The prosecutor told the court that the offences committed by the two defendants, contravened Sections 1(1)(c), Advance Fee Fraud and other related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
He also told the court that the two bankers’ acts, contravened Sections 516 and 383 (1) Criminal Code Act LFN 2004. And sections 21(a) and 18 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under section 18(3) of the same Act.
The two bankers denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the five counts charge.
However, at the resumed hearing of the charges against the two bankers, Justice Deinde I. Dipeolu, after taking arguments on their bail applications, which was vehemently opposed by the prosecutor, admitted the two banker to bail in the sum of N10 million each with two sureties in like sum.
Justice Dipeolu among order, also ordered that one of the sureties, must be a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction, while the second surety, must be a Grade Level 16 officer in either Lagos or federal government establishment.
The matter has been adjourned to November 6, for the two defendants’ trial.
