Ecobank Manager Sent To Prison Over N411m Fraud

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

A sacked Ecobank Manager, Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Azike, has been sent to prison over his alleged involvement in financial fraud worth N411m in Lagos.

P.M.EXPRESS reports the remand followed his arraignment before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, which ordered his remand in prison over the allegations of fraud.
Mr. Azike was alleged to have defrauded the bank’s customers to the tune of N411 million. He was investigated by the Ecobank management and was found culpable before he was handed over to the police by the investigative unit of the bank and dismissed.
Thus, he was arraigned before Justice Ayotunde Faji by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police on a three-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretences, false representation and fraud. He, however, pleaded not guilty.
Following his no guilty plea, the police prosecutor, ASP Daniel Apochi, urged the court to remand him in prison pending the commencement of trial.
Consequently, Justice Faji ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison till March 8, 2019, when his bail application would be heard.
In the charge, police alleged that between 2016 and 2017, Azike fraudulently obtained N150 million from a customer of Ecobank Nigeria under false pretence of buying Federal Government Treasury Bill for him in the bank. But without the consent of the bank, he fraudulently converted the sum of N411 million belonging to the bank to his personal use.