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The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Akwa Ibom Zonal Office, has arraigned five bankers who specialise in forging signatures of deceased bank customers and stealing from their accounts, before Justice Archibong Archibong of the Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo.
In a statement on Monday, the anti-graft agency disclosed that the suspects were arrested in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
They are Mbong Essien, Akwa Ephraim Akwa, Precious John, Kenneth Udoetuk, and Ubong Udom.
They were charged with 23 counts bordering on conspiracy, forgery, obtaining by false pretence and criminal conversion of depositors’ funds to the tune of N37.69 million.
“The management of Fidelity Bank Plc, Abak Road branch in Uyo and 72 of the bank customers had in a petition dated December 9, 2019, alerted the Commission of suspicious withdrawals from customers’ accounts, including that of a deceased customer,” the statement said.
It added, “Investigation by the EFCC revealed that Mbong used his position as the Head, Operations and Transaction Service and Delivery, established a criminal syndicate that specialised in perpetrating the fraudulent transactions and deductions.”
The EFCC said further investigations revealed that without the authorisation or knowledge of the management of the bank, the defendants managed a fictitious fixed deposit account with interest accruing to it.
