MICHAEL AKINOLA
The Police intelligence operatives from the Shasha Division of the Lagos State Command have arrested a 30-year old Benin Republican for allegedly paying N7m hotel bills with fake bank alerts.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspect, Monday Segun, who is a Generator repairer, came to Nigeria and lodged in the popular Chirozz Hotel and Suites located at Samuel Street, Akowonjo area of Egbeda and booked a room for an undisclosed amount on daily basis and moved in with his girlfriend.
He was said to have pending huge sums of money on food, drinks and women from January to March, 2024 and was transferring money for the bills through his phone and the hotel account will be credited with the fake alert.
The hotel management got worried that despite the income recorded as sales, it does not tally with bank payments and the management decided to carry out an internal audit. They then went to their bank to get statement of payments from their customers over a period.
It was then the management discovered that the suspect, Segun, had been defrauding them by making payments with fake bank alerts. The management recorded payment for drinks which Segun paid for N350,000 but in the bank statement of payment, it showed N35 and it was so with other payments made by Segun.
The matter was reported to the Police at Shasha Division. He was arrested and detained at the station for interrogation over his alleged conduct.
During the interrogation, the Police collected the bank statement of all his payments from the hotel management and discovered that he used fake bank alerts to make payments in all the transactions in the hotel for several months.
Having been found culpable he was consequently charged before the Ejigbo Magistrate Court for the alleged the alleged fraud, which attracts several years of imprisonment.
He pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned.
The prosecutor, Inspector Simeon Njue, then asked the Court to give a date for trial since he pleaded not guilty to enable the Police to prove that he actually committed the alleged offence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. A.K. Dosumu-Uthman, granted him bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum, who must show evidence of means of livelihood and tax payment while addresses will be verified by the Court.
The matter was adjourned for trial while the defendant was remanded in custody at the correctional center at Kirikiri town, Lagos, pending when he will perfect his bail conditions.