The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has presented its first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a former employee of Access Bank Plc and three others over an alleged N5.7 billion fraud.
The trial, which commenced on Thursday, May 15, 2025, is before Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos. The accused — Olajide Ogunmoroti, Michael Igbomina, David Onyeike, and Moses Iruolaje — are facing an amended 10-count charge bordering on stealing, retention of proceeds of crime, money laundering, obtaining credit by false pretence, and unauthorized access to computer materials.
According to the EFCC, one of the charges states: “That you, Olajide Ogunmoroti, Michael Igbomina, David Onyeike and Moses Iruolaje, sometime in 2023, with a dishonest intent, stole and converted for your own use the sum of N2,253,827,379.23, being property of Access Bank Plc., thereby committed an offence of Stealing, contrary to Sections 280 and punishable under section 280 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
Another charge reads: “That you, Olajide Ogunmoroti, Michael Igbomina, David Onyeike and Moses Iruolaje, sometime in 2023, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with a dishonest intent, stole and converted for your own use the sum of N3,473,166,731.00 (Three Billion, Four Hundred and Seventy-Three Million, One Hundred and Sixty-Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty One Naira) Property of Access Bank PIc., thereby committed an offence of Stealing, contrary to Sections 280 and punishable under section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel Abdulhamid L. Tukur, the first prosecution witness, Abdulmajeed Agboola, a staff member of Access Bank Plc, told the court that Ogunmoroti, the first defendant, was the ICT representative at the bank’s Abakaliki branch.
According to Agboola, “There was a fraudulent overdraft limit maintained on our customers’ accounts, which enabled them to make withdrawals from the unfunded accounts. We observed those suspicious overdraft limits maintained on customers’ accounts, which allowed them to access funds and transferred to accounts maintained in both Access Bank and other banks. We identified customers whose accounts benefitted from the suspicious overdraft maintenance with total exposure of over N5bn.”
He added that an investigation traced the glitch in the bank’s server to the Abakaliki branch. “During investigations, everything was pointing at the first defendant. He admitted that he used a private laptop in connection with the bank’s server through which they gained access to the bank’s data,” he said.
Agboola also noted, “During investigations, everything was pointing at the first defendant. He admitted that he used a private laptop in connection with the bank’s server through which they gained access to the bank’s data.”
The witness further testified that “when the CCTV footage was checked, it was discovered that everything had been wiped out.”
He emphasized that the use of personal laptops was against the bank’s policy.
Following this testimony, the EFCC tendered petitions from Access Bank as evidence. With no objections from the defence, the court admitted the documents.
Justice Abike-Fadipe adjourned the matter to May 20, 2025, for the continuation of trial.
