Banker bags 10yrs imprisonment for stealing customer’s deposit

An Ado-Ekiti High Court has sentenced a former cashier with Fidelity Bank, Ado Branch, Michael Ihinolurinjon to ten 10 imprisonment for stealing customers’ deposit.

Ihinolurinjon was on Thursday, found guilty of a two-count charge of stealing money from the bank’s vault and diverting customers’ deposits of a criminal case filed against by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.

Justice Abiodun Adesodun in her judgement said Ihinolurinjon stands guilty and accordingly convicted to serve a prison of 10 years with a fine options of N100, 000 on each of the counts.
The convict was also ordered to pay a sum of seven million naira as restitution to Fidelity Bank Plc, being the petitioner in the case.
The bank had written a petition to the EFCC alleging that while still a staffer, Ihinolurinjon stole the sum of N8,891,000 (Eight Million, Eight Hundred and Ninety-One Thousand Naira) from its vault, and also failed to remit a total of N7,251,600 (Seven Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-One, Six Hundred Naira) he collected from customers to the bank’s account.

The bank also accused Ihinolurinjon of absconding from duty ‘upon sighting one of the customers whose cash he had fraudulently diverted’.
Following the petition, the Commission went into investigation after which the accused was originally charged with obtaining through false pretence in a one-count charge filed in 2017.

The charge was later amended to a two-count, bordering on stealing, upon which he was re-arraigned on June 24, 2019.
“Our preliminary review showed that Michael fraudulently diverted the sums of N8,891,000 and N7,251,600.00 of the branch vault and customers’ cash respectively. The cash deposit of N7,251,600 received by Michael from various customers between 1/9/16 and 19/9/16 were neither posted to their respective accounts nor the cash accounted for,” the bank stated in its petitioned dated October 17, 2016.

The offence, according to the EFCC prosecuting counsel Abdulrasheed Suleman, contravenes Section 390 (g) of the Criminal Code Laws Cap 16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
He called nine witnesses to testify against the convicts.