The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested a 29-year old prison warder attached to the old Abeokuta Prison, Ibara, Ogun State for allegedly assisting a prison inmate in carrying out fraudulent financial transactions.
The EFCC said Joseph Emmanuel opened a First Bank account for an inmate named Ora using the name and documents of a taxi driver in the neighbourhood.
Punch reports:
The spokesman for the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, said the suspect assisted the inmate, identified as Ora, to open the account, using the name of one taxi driver in his neighbourhood, Monsuru Adeogun.
Uwujaren said, “Emmanuel took the step after he rejected the entreaties of the inmate to avail him of his account number.
“Having made a promise to help the inmate with an account number, Emmanuel threw caution and his work ethics to the wind and opened an account in the name of Adeogun, a father of four.”
It was learnt that after opening the account, Emmanuel handed the withdrawal booklet to Adeogun and took the ATM card to Ora (the inmate).
The EFCC said Emmanuel helped Ora to make three withdrawals from the account, but when he went the fourth time, the ATM rejected the card.
Emmanuel was said to have invited Adeogun to bring the withdrawal booklet, and when he (Adeogun) went to the bank, he was arrested.
It was learnt that when Emmanuel went to check Adeogun at the EFCC office, he was also detained for his involvement.
Uwujaren said, “During investigation, it was gathered that the same inmate had previously convinced one Mary Ogunnariwo, a student of Tai Solarin University of Education in Ogun State, to help him open an account with her name.
A statement made by Ogunnariwo to the EFCC reads in part, “I went to the Abeokuta Prison to seek an Industrial Attachment placement. Before I left, an inmate who introduced himself as Timilehin approached me and pleaded with me to help him open an account with my name so that I can help him withdraw money whenever his family pays money into the account”.
Ogunnariwo wrote that she later helped the inmate to make several withdrawals, which were always collected by different men who managed to show up each time she got a call from the inmate to make a withdrawal.
Uwujaren also explained that Ogunnariwo was also arrested because the ATM rejected the card and she went into the banking hall to lodge a complaint and attempted to make the withdrawal with a withdrawal slip.
“Both Adeogun and Ogunnariwo were arrested the same day and at the same bank and brought to the EFCC together. The suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded,” Uwujaren added.
