Ex-Banker Arrested In Lagos Hotel With $470,000 USD, Aided Fraud Syndicate Pull Off N1.4billion From Commercial Bank

*NNPP Kogi Assembly Candidate Nabbed With N326million, $610,000 Cash

Mr. Abdumalik Salau Femi, a former bank employee who allegedly supplied inside information that facilitated the attack on a commercial bank by a syndicate of fraudsters who successfully pulled off N1.4billion from the bank’s vaults, has been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

He was picked up on November 1, at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos, a spokesperson for the anti-graft Agency, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Uwujaren disclosed that a total of $470,000 USDwas recovered from the suspect following a search conducted on his home at Morgan Estate, Ojodu, Lagos.

The syndicate had allegedly moved N887million into the account of Fav Oil and Gas limited, from where the monies were paid to several Bureau de Change operators and some auto dealers for exchange into United States Dollars and purchase of high-end cars.

Also arrested is the Kogi State House of Assembly candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Ismaila Yusuf Atumeyi, from whom a sum of N326million and $610,500 cash was allegedly recovered.

 Uwujaren said Atumeyi who is seeking to represent Ankpa 11 Constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly was arrested on Sunday, October 30, 2022 alongside one Joshua Dominic, an alleged serial fraudster, in a sting operation at Macedonia Street, Queens Estate, Karsana,  Gwarinpa, Abuja.

The arrest of the suspects, according to Uwujaren, followed months of investigation by EFCC operatives into the hacking of one of the commercial banks by a syndicate of fraudsters who pulled off a heist of N1.4billion.

Dominic, who is said to have been arrested several times for fraud, allegedly helped Atumeyi execute the hacking plan through Abdumalik.

Uwujaren noted that Dominic, a self-styled investment expert and managing director of Brisk Capital Limited was arrested in May 2021 by the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police for alleged N2billion investment scam. He allegedly defrauded over 500 persons in a phony investment scheme.

Two Range Rover Luxury SUVs were also recovered from the two suspects arrested in Abuja.

They will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded, Uwujaren assured.

Meanwhile, the Commission has expressed concern on the rising spate of cyber-attacks on banks and the reluctance of the institutions to report such breaches to law enforcement.

While warning that such reticence would only embolden the criminals, the EFCC appeals to financial institutions to collaborate with it to secure the financial sector from threats of cyber-attacks.

It will be recalled that the EFCC had in the wake of the recent announcement by the Central Bank Nigeria, CBN of plans to redesign and re-issue higher denominations of the Naira, warned Bureau de Change operators to be wary of currency hoarders who would attempt to seize the opportunity to offload the currencies they had illegally stashed away.

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