Two military officers and four others have been arrested by EFCC
operatives for allegedly opening fake accounts to divert N339million
benefits of next-of-kin of deceased military officers and men within two
months. The Nation reports that two other suspects involved in the
crime are currently at large.
The arrested military officers, a Wing Commander and
a Lt. Commander, worked at the Military Pension Board while
their accomplices were Branch Manager and Relationship Manager of United
Bank for Africa (UBA). It was gathered that the auditors of UBA raised
the alarm when its auditors discovered that huge parts of the funds were
“cashed across the counter in a suspicious manner.”
Based on the alert by the bank, the EFCC stepped in to crack how the fraud was perpetrated.
A source in EFCC who confirmed their arrest said “We have arrested a
serving Wing Commander, a Lt. Commander and four others for N339million
death benefit of some deceased military officers and men. Two others are
at large but we have watch-listed them. The affected military officers
were both cashier and computer operator in Military Pension Board and
they connived with six others to carry out the fraud in UBA branch, Wuse
Zone 3 branch. Between April and June 2016, they opened accounts where
benefits of the next-of-kins of deceased military men were diverted
into. In fact, under two months, N339million was withdrawn and wired
into more than 11 accounts. The withdrawal was in two tranches of
N298million and N41million.
The Auditors of the bank observed suspicious withdrawal of huge chunk of the cash from across the counter.
Speaking further, the source said all the suspects have admitted their involvement in the crime.
“During the investigation, the Branch Manager and the Relationship
Manager confessed and admitted opening these slush accounts. Some
existing accounts of customers and the friends of the suspects were also
used to divert the funds. Findings confirmed that the husbands of the
two bank officials benefitted from the death benefit fraud. Two
suspects, who are personal friends of the Branch Manager and
Relationship Manager are at large. But we have watch-listed them. We
will soon arrest them.
The military officers also admitted to have colluded and conspired with
the bank officials to use the slush accounts for the fraud. These
serving military officers incorporated a company each and funds were
wired into the accounts of their companies.”