…money changed to paper cuttings
A Bureau de Change operator, Mr Adetunji
Olusegun 40, has been arrested by policemen attached to Ogun State Police
Command for allegedly stealing the sum of $20,000 belonging to NNPC Cooperative
Society Ikoyi, Lagos State.
The suspect, a worker of NNPC
Cooperative Society, was presented to journalists at the Ogun State Police
Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed
Iliyasu.
Iliyasu said Olusegun withdrew
$20,000 from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on behalf of his company, but rather
than hand over the money to his boss, Akin Akinrera, who sent him on errand, he
diverted it.
Olusegun, however, denied the
allegation. He said the dollars were neither stolen nor diverted. According to
him, the money mysteriously turned to newspaper cuttings while he was in a
commercial vehicle, heading to office.
Iliyasu noted that the suspect
diverted the money and took it to his residence in Sagamu.
The CP further explained: "On
October 13, 2017, Akin Akinrera, president of NNPC Cooperative Ikoyi, Lagos,
reported at Mowe Division that he sent one of his staff to cash the sum of $20,000 from CBN on his behalf for the
company. After the withdrawal, the suspect, instead of handing over the money,
diverted it to his house at Sagamu.
"The suspect claimed that the
money turned to ordinary newspaper cuttings, while he was on his way to office,
inside a commercial car. The suspect was immediately arrested and interrogated,
but denied diverting the money."
The police recovered a pair of
scissors and pieces of newspapers cut into money sizes from Olusegun. Olusegun,
who stuck to his story, said he never diverted the foreign currencies,
stressing that the money mysteriously turned into newspaper cuttings.
Olusegun said: “The money turned to
cuttings of newspaper after I entered a car that was going to Lagos. I've been
working for over two years now at the Bureau de Change, which is an investment
of NNPC Cooperative. It's called Muchere Bureau de Change, located at Ikoyi.
"On October12, I collected
$20,000 from the CBN. I didn't see a buyer for it because I was the one that would
do the transaction and everything. I was the only worker there that period;
because I didn't see buyer, I had to take it home. On October 13, which was
Friday; I normally don't take my car to Lagos. I usually park my car at NNPC
Mega Station. So, I parked there and took my bag.
" A car going to Lagos came to that
filling station, I boarded. When the driver drove out of the gate of the
filling station, he told me that the front door was not properly shut. He said
I should shut it properly.
" The driver and I struggled to
shut the door properly. The driver touched my bag, and said I should move to
the back. As I was about to move to the back, he zoomed off and turned back towards
Sagamu. I decided to take another vehicle; I boarded a Vanagon. It was when I
wanted to pay for my bus fare, that I discovered the money has changed into
newspaper cuttings.”
Asked about the pair of scissors and
cuttings of The Nation and News Direct newspapers recovered from him, Olusegun
said, "My wife is a tailor and we have series of scissors in my house.
And concerning The Nation newspaper, if you read the newspaper very well, it’s
talking about bureau de change in 2015. That's why my boss said I should buy
it. The second newspaper, News Direct, has a story about Godwin Emefiele,
refusing to give bureau de change dollars. Those are the two newspapers police
found in my house. I didn't buy newspapers; I read online. I'm not the one that
cut the newspapers into money size. I don't know who did. I just saw it.
Immediately I realised that I couldn't find the money, I called my boss.
"My boss didn't respond, I sent
him a text. When I sent the text, he received it and replied that I should come
to the office. He thereafter told me that I should go and report myself in a
police station in Ikoyi. That was what happened to me. It's only God that can
help me out because nobody was there.”
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