Though the amount in question is considered not to be a colossal one,
just about N6.5 Million, yet it just shows how porous the anti-fraud
security network of Wema Bank Plc is. If an amount running into 6 digits
can just develop wings and do the Houdini.
The money in question belongs to a parastatal of the Lagos
Government, the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO). The money we hear is a
collection of proceeds from fines imposed by the VIO & other
payments by the office, between June & October of 2013. The phantom
money disappeared from the Iponri branch of Wema Bank.
Apparently the account discrepancies was noticed after the VIO
account department had done a reconciliation and to their shock the said
amount that should be in their account had gone missing; so the alarm
was raised. The VIO office immediately demanded an investigation on
their account with WEMA Bank and from the subsequent investigation, the
man with the supposed magic wand (hands) turned out to be a Mr. Olakunle
Olatunbosun, a teller at the bank who had been employed into the bank
just 2 years before the incidence and had been transferred to the Iponri
branch just a year ago.
In the course of the investigation by the panel set up by the bank, a
staff of the VIO, Lateef Goloba, who works in the account department
and who was directly in charge of the money deposited was able to show
that he was not culpable. While Lateef Goloba, deposited the funds and
got his customer’s tellers duly stamped, the teller in charge, Mr.
Olakunle Olatunbosun, did not stamp and file the bank’s control copies.
So money was duly deposited but was not accounted for by Olatunbosun.
Working on the theory that the fraud must have been perpetrated and
successful due to the active connivance of the 2 directly involved with
the money, the panel set up to investigate the matter showed that Lateef
Goloba was faithful in his work as he duly deposited all the funds and
had evidence to show for it, only Mr. Olatunbosun couldn’t account for
the monies paid to him and was found culpable. So Wema Bank agreed to
refund the stolen money and then Mr. Olatunbosun was sacked and handed
over to the police. The bank in going further also reprimanded the
supervisor in charge of Olatunbosun’s department for condoning lapses
and for not being alive to his duties and recommended that the staff
members in that branch would forgo promotion no matter how fantastic
their appraisal for one year. maestromedia
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