Alleged N10m Fraud: How Ex-Eco Bank Staff Defrauded Victim

The trial of Daniel Abah Royce continued on April 3, 2019 before Justice Mohammed Tukur of the Kaduna State High Court sitting in Kaduna, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC presenting its first witness, Abba Helen Ezekiel.

He was first arraigned on February 4, 2019 on a two-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for defrauding the witness of the sum of N10 million.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Daniel Abah Royce, sometime in January 2016 or thereabout in Eco Bank Plc, Kaduna within the Judicial Division of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N10,000,000 (Ten Million Naira) from Mrs. Abba Helen Ezekiel under the pretence that you would invest the said sum and pay her better interest better than that of the bank, a pretence you knew is false and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offence Act 2006 and Punishable under subsection 3 of the Same Act.”

He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.

At the resumed hearing today, Ezekiel took to the dock to testify against him.

Led in evidence by counsel for the EFCC, Onyeka Ekweozor, she narrated how the defendant defrauded her of the said sum, claiming to be one Job Egila.

Ezekiel said: “I visited Eco Bank, Kachia Road branch, Kaduna to inquire of interest rate on a fixed deposit and was introduced to one Charles with whom I discussed at length in the presence of ‘Joy Egila’.

“On my next visit, Charles had been transferred out of the branch and I was asked to wait for another account clerk that will attend to me.

“In the absence of the account clerk, ‘Job Egila’ introduced himself to me as a bank recovery officer.

“He advised me to invest with him and not with the bank, that for every one million naira I invest with him, I will get N25,000 and that later it will increase to N30,000.

“I first gave him N3 million for an interest rate for 30 days and he gave me a post-dated cheque, but I later found out that he did not fund the account, and he still did not pay my money back.”

She further told the court that she transferred another N4 million, and several other payments totalling N10 million to him.

The case has been adjourned to May 6, 2019 for “continuation of trial”.