FINANCE: How Bankers Stole N306 Million From Femi Falana’s Account

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has stated that the N306 million stolen from the Falana and Falana Chambers’ account was returned by the bank to avoid a legal action.
A statement released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday announced that it had arrested two suspects involved in a N1.5 billion bank fraud.

Olayinka Sanni, a former manager at Intercontinental Bank (now owned by Access Bank), and Oyebode Atoyebi, Personal Assistant to Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, were arrested by the commission for conspiracy, stealing, and forgery.
“I confirm that the sum of N306 million was stolen from our clients’ account by the officer,” said Mr. Falana.
“But I wish to say that the management of the bank refunded the money to avoid a legal action from our chambers,” he added.
Mr. Sanni, who also operates a Bureau de Change, SIDAW Ventures, allegedly transferred various sums of money into his SIDAW account without the bank’s customer’s consent, the EFCC said.
In addition to the N306 million transferred from the account of Falana and Falana Chambers, the suspect also allegedly transferred N65 million from the account of Babington Junior Seminary; N40 million from P.W. Nigeria Limited’s account; N15 million from Mikano International’s account; N20 million from Viju Industries Limited’s account, and N1.2 billion from Murhi International Limited into his company’s account.
“Besides, Sanni also collected the sum of $461,200 USD from one Chukwurah Nkiru, who sold it to him for the equivalent of N76, 559,200 but was not paid.
“Sanni is also embroiled in a foreign exchange scam where his SIDAW Ventures account was used to handle the sum of N104, 405, 000 where only N72,229,000 worth of foreign exchange was paid to the customer leaving a balance of N32, 185, 000 being hotly contested between his firm and the customer,” read the statement signed by Wilson Uwujaren, the commission’s Spokesperson.
Mr. Atoyebi, who is also enmeshed in a N501 million money laundering charge alongside Mr. Ikuforiji, was arrested for conspiracy and complicity, having allowed Mr. Sanni to use his name and passport-sized photograph to open an account in SIDAW Ventures Limited in the name of Akanmu Babatunde.

“With this fictitious name, Sanni brokered many shady deals and duped many innocent people,” the commission stated.

The EFCC said that the duo will be arraigned in court “soon.”