Fidelity Bank In N874million Mess As EFCC Drags Staff To Court

The alleged fraudulent activities of some members of staff of Fidelity Bank Plc has dragged the name of the financial institution into muddy waters.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its drive to cleanse Nigeria’s financial institutions has some Fidelity Bank staff to the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja for allegedly stealing N874million from the bank and its customers.

A prosecution witness and Information System Auditor with Fidelity Bank, Peter Ige testified on how the four accused persons hacked the bank’s database and cloned more than 22 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to steal N874million.

He testified before against the defendants: Olusegun Babasola, Abisola Ahmed, Uchechukwu Uma, Jude Aphaeus, and a non-staff of the bank, Omidiji Joseph, according to a statement by the EFCC.

While it tendered more exhibits against the defendants, including a DVD of the bank’s CCTV footage, the EFCC accused the staff of allegedly hacking the bank’s database and cloning more than 22 ATM cards used to steal and divert to personal use about N874million belonging to five of the bank’s corporate customers – American International Insurance Company Limited (AIICO), Interswitch, OVH Energy Marketing Ltd, Fidelity Bank sinking fund account and FSL Securities Ltd.

Testifying, Ige identified the four defendants in the dock and gave details of the findings of the internal investigation carried out by his team.

“On July 15, 2019, as a System Auditor, my team was called upon to look at an instant of ATM fraud reported to the Internal Audit and to investigate same,” he said.

He said his team reviewed the systems, the affected accounts as well as those who must have carried out the activities on the accounts.

“We observed that the accounts were linked to a set of ATM cards, with their daily withdrawal limits increased from N150,000 to about N150million.”

He added that the permitted frequency of withdrawal was also increased, saying, “This was very abnormal; and so, it aided the commission of the fraud.”

The judge adjourned the case for continuation of trial after the defendants pleaded not guilty.