The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) closed its case on Wednesday against Oluwole Olutimehin, who is on trial for allegedly misappropriating ₦13.29 million belonging to Sterling Bank Plc.
According to Punch Online, Olutimehin is being tried before Justice Rahman Oshodi at the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on a single charge of fraudulent conversion of funds.
The EFCC accused him of unlawfully converting ₦13,290,000 of Sterling Bank’s funds for personal use on or around September 15, 2021, in Lagos.
The trial initially commenced on September 20, 2022, before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo but was reassigned to Justice Oshodi following Justice Taiwo’s retirement.
According to the EFCC, the alleged offense violates Section 280 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, and is punishable under Section 287 of the same law.
During the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the EFCC presented its second prosecution witness, Olaniyi Olaleye, an internal auditor at Sterling Bank. Led by EFCC counsel S.I. Suleiman, Olaleye recounted the events leading to the case. He stated that in September 2021, Sterling Bank identified irregularities in its OneBank app, an internet banking platform that enables customers to open accounts and perform online transactions.
“We detected abnormalities in the app that allowed unauthorized withdrawals totaling ₦13.29 million across multiple banks, including GTBank, Wema Bank, and Access Bank,” Olaleye testified.
Sterling Bank subsequently filed a petition with the EFCC to investigate the breach, co-signed by Olaleye. He confirmed submitting the petition along with account statements linked to the fraudulent transactions as evidence. Exhibits A and B, containing the petition and the defendant’s account details (Account No. 0085006574), were admitted into evidence.
Explaining the app’s functionality, Olaleye noted that the OneBank app allows wallet account holders to perform transactions with a daily limit of ₦500,000. However, the security breach enabled transactions that far exceeded this limit, leading to the unauthorized withdrawals.
