Childless Edo trader allegedly duped of N5.7m by bank official laments: I saved stolen sum towards adopting a child

AT 50 and without a husband, Josephine Okoruwa’s greatest desire was to have a child she could call her own. Hence she hit on the idea of adopting a child and savour the joy of motherhood.

To actualise this dream, she decided to make some savings towards meeting the financial obligations attached to adopting a child. She opened a savings account with Trust Fund Micro-Finance Bank in 2014 and later opened a fixed deposit account with the bank. Her daily contributions were deposited in her savings account at the end of every month, such that by July 2017, the sum in his account had risen to N5.7 million. Okoruwa said her purpose for saving the money was to provide a decent place for the child she planned to adopt.

Her hope is now dimmed after the money she saved in her accounts with the bank disappeared in a controversial manner. Since the money was allegedly fraudulently taken from her bank accounts in August this year, Okoruwa had been admitted hospital more than five times for high blood pressure. At the centre of the controversy surrounding Okoruwa’s stolen money is an employee of the bank identified as Faith Egbi, who allegedly withdrew the money from Okoruwa’s account.

It was learnt that Egbi also bolted with Okoruwa’s savings account booklet and fixed account certificate without a trace. Okoruwa, a trader, said she had started her business in Lagos before she relocated to Benin to continue selling drinks and groceries. Okoruwa, who claimed she had no formal education, said she trusted the persons the bank assigned to collect money from her on a daily basis. She said at the end of every month, her daily contributions were usually collated and kept in her savings account. She said: “They have assigned four persons to me since I started with them. Faith (Egbi) was the last person that came before the problem started. I do not know her house or anything about her. I only know her as Faith. “The problem started in July when Faith introduced one Ese to me as the new person assigned to me.

Faith (Egbi) said she had been transferred to another area. Not long after, Faith came to tell me that my fixed account was due and that I should bring the papers so that the bank could update the account. “I gave her the papers, not knowing that Faith had been sacked three months earlier. Most times, when I had money in my store, I would call Faith and she would come and collect the money.

The next day, she would bring the tellers. “She had been doing that with the fixed deposit account. I trusted her because I believed the bank would not send a bad person to a customer. “After Faith had collected the papers, a member of their staff and Ese came and asked me how much I had in my account, I told them and she said she would call me back but never did. “I felt disturbed, so I went to the bank only to be told that Faith had been sacked. I asked the bank manager why he did not inform me about it and he said he was sorry. When I asked Ese, she said it was the bank that was supposed to tell me about its staff.

“I was making the savings for certain reasons. I don’t have a husband and I don’t have a child. My business is now down and my brain is no longer working properly anytime I remember the money. “I want to adopt a child. You know they will come to check the place you want to take the child to.

I was told that Faith had disappeared, leaving behind an eight-month-old baby. In this area, Faith was still coming to collect money from people after she was sacked and the bank did not tell us.” In her bid to recover her money, Okoruwa petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through her lawyer, Barrister H. U. Ogoanah, stating that the money in both her savings and fixed deposit accounts, put at N3 million and N2.7 million respectively were missing. The petition reads: “Our client was surprised to hear from the bank manager that the management of Trust Fund Micro-Finance Bank had sacked Mrs. Faith (Egbi) without her knowledge. Our client decided to check her account and discovered that there is no single money in her savings, fixed deposit and daily contribution accounts.

“It is a trite policy in banking sector and in accordance with banking regulations that our client has to be notified at all status of her transaction. “We have exhausted our patience and we discovered that the bank is treating this matter with levity. We decided to take proper action to get our client’s money back. “It is our prayer that top officials of the bank would be arrested for fraudulently and deliberately employing Mrs. Faith (Egbi), thereby conniving with her to tamper with our client’s account and to steal all her money. “We demand the bank manager and his bank to produce Mrs. Faith (Egbi) whom they have sacked without the knowledge of our client or a disclaimer to also provide our client’s fixed deposit certificate, savings account booklet in her possession and for the bank to pay our client’s money in full.”

Contacted, the Managing Director of the bank, Victor Ohuoba, admitted that Okoruwa had a fixed deposit and savings accounts with the bank. Ohuoba said Okoruwa gave an instruction that the money in her fixed deposit account be paid into her savings account from where she withdrew the entire sum. Asked what date was the money withdrawn, Ohuoba said he does not discuss customers’ transaction with the press. He also refused to confirm whether the bank carried out a disclaimer on Egbi or informed Okoruwa and other customers about her sack after the bank discovered irregularities in several accounts managed by Egbi. He said Egbi was a staff of the bank, adding that she was sacked and handed over to the police for her complicity in fraudulent transactions.