Justice Mohammed Owolabi of the Oyo State High Court on Friday, November 29th sentenced a former staff of the Ayete Microfinance Bank Limited, situated in Ayete, Oyo State, Sunday Fadayomi to six years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Pronouncing Fadayomi guilty of all the 30 count criminal charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office, Justice Owolabi sentenced him to jail for stealing N11 million from the bank’s vault while he was a staff of the bank.
The convict is an information system expert in charge of the bank’s information technology section, the position he held for about 10 years before his criminal exploits were blown open. The bank, in a petition dated April 17, 2018, had accused him of sundry criminal activities, including posting money to customers’ accounts without tellers, posting cash deposit at weekend when the bank was not opened for operation, accessing loans without intention to pay and using proxy accounts to commit fraud, among others.
After firming up its series of investigations into the allegations, the EFCC arraigned him on the 30-count charge on May 17, 2018. Fadayomi, however, pleaded not-guilty to all the charges which border on stealing, contrary to Section 390 (6)(9) Criminal Code of Cap 38, Vol. 2 Laws of Oyo State, 2000. His plea led to a full trial which came to a halt on Friday. The EFCC was represented in the case by Ifeanyi Agwu and Oyelakin Oyediran.
After considering arguments by the prosecution and defence lawyers, Justice Owolabi held that the EFCC lawyers convinced the court that the accused indeed committed the offence with which he was charged. The court further ordered the convict to restitute the N11m he stole to the bank.
