The police launched the investigation after
receiving a petition from a complainant, who wouldn’t like to be mentioned.
According to the police, Mr Vincent Esiekpe was
arrested in the course of the investigation. Esiekpe is a sacked worker of the
complainant.
Esiekpe was alleged to have gone to one of his
former boss’s clients, identified as China Shipping Limited and pretending he
was still a worker with his former company, collected a bank draft of over N3m.
The crime was discovered after the complainant tired
of waiting for China Shipping Limited to send his bank draft, decided to call
them. He was shocked when he was told that Esiekpe had collected and disappeared
with the draft. Incidentally, China Shipping Limited didn’t know that Esiekpe
no longer works with the complainant.
After series of efforts to trace and locate Esiekpe
failed, the complainant went to SFU.
A police source said: “Esiekpe diverted the bank
draft. He cashed it through a micro-finance bank. But it was cleared through a
new generation bank located Ojota area of Lagos State. Although the new
generation bank said it was ready to pay the complainant the money because the
micro-finance bank has indemnity of N5m with the bank, but the micro-finance is
discouraging them from playing ball. They might all have to be charged to
court. The draft is actually a Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB). Any draft, not
directly linked to a particular bank, where the draft was assigned to, should
be viewed and handled with care. Bank draft, that should be cleared, should be
verified.”
The police source further explained that after Esiekpe
stole the draft, he went through some persons to ensure it was cleared and that
he got cash.
“The suspect went to the person who knows about the
business. The person introduced him to the micro-finance bank.”
Our correspondent gathered that police have also
arrested the operation’s manager of the new generation bank, identified as Richard.
Richard reportedly said: “Our bank has been clearing
draft for other banks for years.”
Investigators
also discovered that Esiekpe allegedly used to release money into the account
of his friend, identified as Ademola after clearance. The friend is owner of a
company. He told his friend that he was expecting some money and needed an
account to pay it into. The friend innocent gave him his account details.
When the draft cleared, the money was paid into the
account of his friend. When the friend received the money, he transferred all
the money to Esiekpe.
Police said that Esiekpe had admitted to the crime.
He also reportedly said: “I was aware that the draft was meant for the former
company I worked for. I took the draft and cashed the money because of the
problem I was facing then. My friend, Ademola, is innocent of the crime.”
Esiekpe was said to have taken the draft to one
Mbaize, begging it to change to cash. Mbaize took it to Emeka, and Emeka took
it to the micro-finance bank. The said Emeka is presently at large.
When the money was shared, Esiekpe got a million
plus, the micro-finance bank, N200, 000, Emeka got one million plus and one
Mercy, also at large, got N700, 000.
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