Bank manager jailed for unauthorized loan
Posted by FACTNEWS | 4 years ago | 1,213 times
A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday sentenced a 56-year-old man, Adekunle Oyeobu, to two and a half years in prison for issuing loans to three customers without obtaining appropriate authorisation.
The convict, who was a bank manager at the Aba branch of the now defunct Cooperative Development Bank, was said to have issued N34.6m to three customers.
In the suit filed by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2001, marked FHC/PHC/12C/2001, between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Adekunle Oyeobu and others, bordering on conspiracy and granting of unauthorised loans, the court found the defendant guilty of three out of six counts, while the three other counts were struck out.
The trial judge, Justice Ayokunle Faji, who presided over the matter, held that the defendant breached the law when he issued N12.5m, 12.9m and N2.2m without authorisation from the bank.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Faji declared that the accused would serve a two-and-half-year jail term for each of the three counts he (Oyeobu) was found guilty of.
The sentences are to run concurrently. The trial judge also ordered the convict to return the sum of N7.6m to the NDIC within six months the order was given.
Earlier, Oyeobu’s counsel, Dada Mayokun, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in its ruling, considering the diligence of the defendant in the matter by not missing proceedings, except on an occasion when he had an accident on his way to court.
Mayokun said, “The court should temper justice with mercy in view of the fact that there is no evidence before the court showing that the defendant benefitted from the loans. Besides, he is an old man with health challenges; he is due for an operation and he is also has a heart problem.
“The defendant has been diligent in this matter; he didn’t jump bail. Also, considering the manner in which the defendant has conducted himself before the court, please, let the court temper justice with mercy and let him serve his sentence in Abuja close to his family.”
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