A 34-year-old man, Henry Ojiogu, has been arraigned before an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing N780, 000 belonging to his employer, Davo Dani Microfinance bank.
Ojiogu of No 1, Lawrence St., Ejigbo in Lagos State is charged for the offence of stealing.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Lucky Ihiehie, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime between March 2015 and Jan 2016.
Ihiehie said that on March 10, Mr Inegbedion Christopher, a manager of the bank lodged a complaint against Ojiogu at the Area H Ogudu Police Station.
In the petition, Christopher states: “Mr Henry Ojiogu joined Davo Dani Micro Finance Bank on April 13, 2015 and was posted to Ladipo branch.
“Mr Henry abandoned his duty post for eight weeks and went away with some customers’ money to the tune of N1.5million; since then no one has seen or heard from him.”
Ihiehie told the court that police investigation revealed that the defendant “went to the extent of opening a fake microfinance bank and obtaining monies from different people”.
He said however that subsequent investigations revealed that the accused had bolted with N780,045.62 and not the initial N1.5 million indicated in the petition.
According to the prosecutor, the offence committed contravenes Section 285 (8) of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011.
The section states: “If the offender is a director or officer of a corporation or company and the thing stolen is the property of the corporation or company, he is liable to imprisonment for 10 years”.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the offence.
The Magistrate, Mrs Sule Amzat, granted him bail in the sum of N200,000 with two reliable sureties in like sum who must provide proof of gainful employment.
The case was adjourned till April 27, for mention. (NAN)