An official of a commercial bank and three others have allegedly emptied the account of a Nigerian man who resides in Saudi Arabia, PUNCH reports.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the suspects had concluded that the owner of the account, Sanusi Yakubu, was dead when he did not operate the account for years.
One of the suspects, a worker in the bank, reportedly contacted his suspected accomplices, namely, Ado Shehu, Ali Muhammad and Abba Sanusi, who work with the Sharia Court, Kano State, to obtain court documents stating that the account owner was dead, and that, as his heirs, should be given access to his money.
Yakubu subsequently petitioned EFCC’s Kano zonal office, which has since arraigned Shehu and Muhammad before Justice Amina Aliyu of the Kano State High Court on three counts bordering on theft and receipt of gratification.
The complainant, Yakubu, in his petition, alleged that one Williams Aondo (now late), who was a staff of a commercial bank (name withheld), conspired with Shehu and Muhammad, both of whom are staff of Sharia Court, Kano State, and instituted a civil action claiming that he (Yakubu) was deceased, after Aondo had noticed inactivity on his account for a few years, whereas he was alive and well in Saudi Arabia.
Yakubu also alleged that the court, acting upon the information presented before it by the said Shehu and Muhammad, ordered his account to be closed and that the sum of N1,255,728.00 that was in the account be remitted to the court for distribution to his heirs.
Count one of the charge reads: ”That you Ado Shehu, Ali Muhammad and Abba Sanusi (now at large), sometime in December 2017 at Kano, Kano State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired among yourselves to do an illegal act, to wit: conspiracy to commit theft against one Sanusi Yakubu and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 96(1)(a) and punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Law (1987).”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
In view of their plea, prosecution counsel, Zarami Mohammed, asked the court for a trial date and for the defendants to be remanded in the custody of Nigerian Correctional Service.
Defence counsel Rabiu Sani, however, made an oral application for bail for the defendants, which Justice Amina Aliyu granted.
He admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N100,000 each and two sureties in like sum.
One of the sureties must be a staff of the judiciary, not less than Grade Level 12; and the other must also be a judiciary staff.
She ordered them to be remanded in the custody of NCS pending the fulfillment of their bail conditions.
The case was adjourned until November 14, 2019, for hearing.
Source: PUNCH
