BY AGENCY REPORTER
A former banker, Ebeneze Alonge, alongside his wife, Olamide, and his mother-in- law, Eunice Isakunle, were on Friday, convicted and sentenced to 60 years imprisonment on 12-count charge of conspiracy and stealing contrary to section 390(9) of the Criminal Code Laws Cap 16 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
The trio were charged to court by the Ibadan Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Adekanye Ogunmoye of the Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti, ruled that the prosecution team, led by Lanre Abdulrasheed, proved their case beyond reasonable doubt and that the convicts had failed to extricate themselves from the self-evidenced proofs before the court.
EFCC, in the course of trial, called two witnesses and tendered several exhibits to prove their case.
The convicts, having been found guilty on all 12 counts, were sentenced to five years on each count. The cumulative 60 years prison terms would, however, run concurrently.
Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity to EFCC, said the illicit activities of Ebenezer got exposed through a petition from one of the new generation banks alleging that Alonge was involved in fraud.
It was alleged that sometime in February 2018, the bank received a complaint of movement of the sum of N62,400 from a customer’s account.
According to the petitioner, on February 15, 2017 a customer lodged the said sum into her account but the transaction could not be traced in her account even after presenting a copy of the slip allegedly signed by Alonge.
In the course of investigation, the said transaction was reported to have been traced to Ebenezer Alonge’s wife’s account.
Further investigation however, revealed that there was a turnover of over N21, 000,000.00 deposit from other customers in his wife’s account.
Also, it was alleged that other sums of money were traced to his mother-in-law’s account, who was alleged to be a beneficiary of the fraudulent act.
The court ordered Alonge to forfeit his house for sale in order to restitute the bank.
