EFCC Arraigns Airman For Theft Of N20M Mistakenly Credited To His Bank Account

Haruna

Lance Corporal Haruna Samuel A serving airman, Lance Corporal Haruna Samuel of the Nigeria Air Force Base, Kaduna has been arraigned by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC, Kaduna on a one-count charge verging on theft and criminal misappropriation.The defendant was arraigned

prior to Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on Tuesday, January 18. The offender was declared to have on December

3, 2020 got a credit alert of the sum of N 20, 014,300(Twenty Million, Fourteen Thousand, Three Hundred Naira)into his checking account. The money was sent in error from the account of

his employer. Knowing complete well he wasn’t anticipating any payment of such magnitude, the offender instead of reporting the problem to his bank or company, went on to withdraw part of the money for personal use, consisting of settling financial obligations. After performing this deceitful act, the offender absconded from his duty post to Plateau State where he was ultimately arrested by operatives of the Commission.Count among the charge preferred against the offender checks out:”That you, Haruna Samuel sometime in December 2020 in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of thisHonourable Court dishonestly misused the sum of N20, 014,300.00(Twenty Million and Fourteen Thousand, Three Hundred Naira), property of NAF Ground Training Centre which was mistakenly sent out to your Zenith Bank account No. 2189705893 which stated sum you dishonestly converted to your own use and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 293 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under Section 294 of the very same Law “. The offender pleaded not guilty to the charge when it read to him.In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Precious C. Onyeneho, prayed the court to fix

a date for trial to commence.But the defence counsel, S.A Yahaya moved for an

oral application for bail, advising the court to confess his customer to bail.Justice Khobo given bail to the defendant in the sum of N5, 000,000.00

(Five Million Naira)and a reliable surety in like sum.The surety need to be an owner of residential or commercial property in Kaduna backed with a Certificate of Occupancy, to be validated by both the EFCC and the Registrar of the Court.The case has been adjourned till 10 March 2022 for hearing.

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