Loan officer swindles microfinance bank, pleads not guilty

A 45-year-old employer, Ngozi Ogunbiyi, was on Thursday docked in an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding her employer, a microfinance bank of about N1.3million.

The police charged Ogunbiyi, who resides in Ebute-Metta area of Lagos, with obtaining money under false pretence, stealing and forgery.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Prosecution Counsel, Insp Sunday Bassey, told the court that the defendant committed the offence between Dec. 1 to 30, 2021 at Beyond Microfinance Bank, Ile-Ile Ketu, Lagos.

Bassey alleged that the defendant who was a loan officer in the bank at that time, fraudulently collected money to the tune of N1,392,530 from some of the bank’s customers without remitting the money to the company’s accounts.

The police alleged that the defendant unlawfully forged and manipulated the said customers transaction on the system and replaced them with another information to cover up the crime.

Bassey told the court that police subsequently arrested the defendant following complaint lodged by the head of operations in the bank, Mr Benjamin Imiafoh.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 287, 314(1)(a) and 376(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The reports that Section 287 and 376(1) stipulates three years imprisonment for stealing and forgery, while Section 314 attracts 15 years for obtaining money under false pretenses for any convicted offender

Magistrate M.O Tanimola, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Tanimola ordered that the sureties should be gainfully employed with one of them being a blood relative.

She further ruled that the sureties should show evidence of two years tax payments to the Lagos State Government as part of the bail conditions..

She adjourned the case until Sept. 12 for mention.