Bank Cashier David Anibolu sSentenced To 4 Years In Prison For Withdrawing N9.3 million From Customer’s Account

A former First Bank Cashier 26-year-old David Anibolu, was on Wednesday sentenced to four years in prison by an Igbosere Magistrates Court in Lagos for stealing N9, 308,000 from a customer’s  account. Anibolu was arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing. 

The trial which lasted for two years and nine month was brought to a close on January 25, 2017 with the Chief Magistrate finding him not guilty of a count of conspiracy but convicted him of stealing. He was sentenced to four years in prison, beginning from the date of his detention.

Before sentencing, Anibolu's lawyer, Philips Onyama, pleaded for a sentence of a fine, or a lenient jail term for his client.

“He’s a first time offender; he has no father, only a sick mother who relies on him to survive. He has been in custody since March 24, 2014 and has suffered emotional and physical torture. He is also now more sober and refined,” Onyama pleaded.

It was revealed by the prosecuting Police Superintendent, Chidi Okoye, that on the 22nd of March 2015, Anibolu walked into the Alaba brach and told colleagues he was there to help a customer pay his land use charge despite being on leave. 

“He fraudulently changed a customer’s identity and mandate card which enabled him to debit the said account of the sum N9 million and transferred it into various accounts,” Okoye said.

According to the police, Anibolu said,

“I have been working with the bank as a teller since 2011 but on the day of the incident, I used the passwords of my colleagues with the help of “F” Key logger given to me by my friend called Afeez who is now at large. The logger helps link a customer’s identification with another that has online banking, which enables cash to be transferred successfully from one account to another. My regret now is that I was supposed to get N4 million as my share but the receivers of the money have since disappeared. I regret my action."

Anibolu denied that the statement is authentic, claiming he was tortured by the police at the station to make the statement. However, the Chief Magistrate A.O. Awogboro ruled that there was no evidence of coercion or torture and accepted the prosecution's testimony as credible.