Posted by By Astro Jewoola on
A Lagos socialite, Chief Babatunde Adewunmi, and six others have been arrested by detectives from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), for attempting to defraud a new generation bank to the tune of N500 million.
A Lagos socialite, Chief Babatunde Adewunmi, and six others have been arrested by detectives from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), for attempting to defraud a new generation bank to the tune of N500 million.
Adewunmi and six of his accomplices were paraded yesterday, at the SFU's Milverton office, in Ikoyi, Lagos. The police unit accused the socialite of specialising in the business of defrauding banks.
Addressing journalists on the nefarious activities of the fraudsters, the boss of the SFU stated: 'In July, we received series of complaints from the Internal Control Unit of the bank. They alleged that Ayeni Olufemi, 32; Olaewe Olajide and 28-year-old Bayo Oketade, who were until their arrest, staff of the bank, conspired with Buhari Mohammed, a 42-year-old secondary school Information Technology teacher in Minna, Niger state, to defraud the bank of the said sum.
'Others implicated in the botched scam are Muazu Abubakar, Adamu Ibrahim and Chief Adewunmi, the Lagos socialite,' the police boss stated.
Investigations revealed that the suspects fraudulently transferred large sums from a dormant account in the bank to a corporate account where they attempted to cash it.
They transferred about N269 million successfully, at different times between July and October. But they were only able to cash N760,000 before the bank's internal control unit discovered the fraud, and the police were alerted.
In a confessional statement to the police, Olajide, one of the bank's staff, implicated Chief Adewunmi as being their sponsor, adding that they had been holding meetings at his residence with others now at large.
'Our initial target was N500 million before the police caught us,' the suspect confessed.
When Adewunmi's house was searched by SFU detectives, they found several incriminating documents, ranging from stamps of various ministries, corporate bodies and banks, including that of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Also recovered were Zenith Bank share certificates belonging to Mr. David Okon, Zenith Bank Money Return Warrant worth N13 million written in favour of Bello Adamu Dan and Iya Adamawa, and some cloned cheques.
Investigations revealed further that about N150 million was transferred into the account of Motorcycle Express Association, Minna, Niger state, by the suspects. Detectives are still on the trail of other suspects, who are now at large.