Court Jails FCMB Staff For 6 Months Over N12m ATM Fraud Which He Spent On His Wedding

A former banker with First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB), Olajide Ogundipe, was on February 15th, 2012 sentenced to six months imprisonment by a Federal High court presided by Justice Alaba Ajileye in Lokoja, Kogi State over a N12.3 million automated teller machine, ATM, fraud.  
 
Ogundipe, a cash officer with the bank was arraigned by Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC on March 2, 2011 on an eight (8) count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and theft to which he initially pleaded not guilty.  
 
As the case commenced and more evidences against the accused person emerged through the prosecution witness, Mary Adebisi, who is also an investigation officer with the commission, the accused person changed his plea and pleaded guilty to all eight-count charges.
 
He was subsequently sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of fine of ten Thousand naira on each of the counts of the charge.
The accused person, who confessed to the crime after his arrest, said he spent the money to sponsor his wedding in 2008.  He explained that he made the withdrawals, usually a minimum of N500, 000, each time he loaded the three ATM machines in Lokoja.
 
"Thereafter, I would manipulate the posting to balance the account," he confessed.
 
The Osun State-born banker, who said he joined FCMB in September 2008 after three years with a new generation bank in Abuja, said he never kept the stolen money in the bank but in his briefcase at his Lokoja home and unknown to his wife who was residing in Karu, Abuja.
After the confessional statement, Ogundipe promised to return the stolen money and made good his promise when his lawyer, Mr. Ibrahim Muktari, brought to EFCC an FCMB draft of N9, 000,000 dated October 22, 2009.