Diamond Bank in staff abuse mess
Olutayo Olubi
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, As ex-workers seek N300m damages over fraud allegations
THE upcoming months may be tough for one of the Money Deposit Banks (MDBs) in the country, Diamond Bank Plc. This is in view of a law suit already filed at an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan by eight former staff of the bank over allegations of official mistreatment and injustice meted out to them by the bank.

The staff in question- Messrs. Utieyin Obioru, Deputy Manager; Adio Oluwasegun, Senior Banking Officer; Adesoji Adekunle, Senior Banking Officer; Alasi Oloruntobi, Banking Executive; Chukuma Kalu, Banking Officer; Ladoja Gbolahan, Management Trainee; and Tokunbo Obayemi, Management Trainee- as represented by Mr. Adebayo Adenipekun, SAN, of Chief Afe Babalola, SAN and Company, are praying that the court should declare that their employment with the bank was effectively terminated via their resignation letter dated 22 January, 2009; and that their purported dismissal via the bank's letter of 5 October 2009 was wrongful, malicious and of no effect.

These ex-staff are also praying that the court should grant them damages running into N300 million.

The issue involves transactions between Diamond Bank and a customer of Diamond Bank, Dupsob Nigeria Limited who also maintained other accounts with the bank, which were the top accounts in Diamond Bank Plc, Ibadan branch and also the entire bank as a whole as at October 2008 and had been the major income earners for the bank for over three years.

As at October 2008 total income accruing to Diamond Bank was about N60million monthly and turnover on all three accounts being operated by the customer ran into between N40 and N50billion monthly. Most of the income gotten from customer was by discounting cheques which usually run into billions of naira for the customer on a daily basis. This had been the practice for over several years. This customer was always treated as a special customer of the bank by Executive Management.

To further confirm that this customer was not the usual run of the mill customer, in September 2008, the Executive Management of Diamond Bank purchased a brand new Honda Accord Salon car worth N4.995million to say thank you to the customer for her patronage over the years and assure her of the bank's commitment to her. The car was presented to the customer with much fanfare by some members of Executive Management.
Trouble began on the 23rd of October 2008, barely a month after the presentation of the said brand new car to the bank's most outstanding customer, Mrs. Modupe Sobodu by Diamond Bank, that six members of staff of Diamond Bank Plc, Ibadan branch namely Utieyin Obioru, Adesoji Adekunle, Chukwuma Kalu, Gbolahan Ladoja, Tokunbo Obayemi and Salau Abdulazeez were arrested in full glare of customers and staff by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

On getting to the EFCC office in Lagos, the staff were shown a petition written to the commission by Diamond Bank accusing the staff of having connived with the customer Mrs. Modupe Sobodu owner of Dupsob Nigeria Limited, Mofadeb Nigeria Limited and Nukep Nigeria Limited, to fraudulently withdraw the sum of N70 million from her account.

The matter did not end there. Diamond Bank also stated in the petition that the staff were on the verge of fleeing the country over the alleged crime committed. The bank also stated in the petition that the amount involved in the alleged fraud which was N70million was siphoned through the said customer cheques amounting to about N7billion which were fraudulently discounted by the said staff of the branch on the 21st of October 2008. The bank however deliberately refused to inform the EFCC that this has been the discounting of the customer's cheques was a usual practice over the years and that the income being made by the bank over the years was through this practice and with the bank's management's consent.
The staff were granted administrative bail after spending a period ranging from four days to fourteen days in EFCC's custody.

On release from EFCC custody the staff were immediately asked to proceed on indefinite suspension without pay by Diamond Bank over issues of Cheque Kitting on the accounts of Dupsob Nigeria Limited, Mofadeb Nigeria Limited and Nukep Nigeria Limited pending when the bank concluded its investigation, curiously, no mention was made of N70 million allegation, which the bank made in its petition to EFCC.

On the 22nd of January 2009, having not heard anything from the bank, all the staff (totaling eight, as two additional staff were placed on suspension as well) all resigned their appointments with the bank stating the spurious and malicious petition written to the EFCC as their reason for resigning.

National Daily learnt that the affected staff were warned by their colleagues that from all indications the Management of the bank was bent on making them sacrificial lambs and advised them to take steps to protect themselves.
What informed the sudden decision taken by the Executive Management of Diamond Bank to stop discounting cheques for its valued customers?
National Daily investigation revealed that the reason why the Executive Management of Diamond Bank took the action was as a result of a liquidity problem in the bank, which required an urgent reduction in the outflows or loan facilities so as to boost the liquidity of the bank. Unfortunately, the customer informed the bank at that time that due to certain transactions which she had gone into, she would be unable to reduce her exposure to the bank immediately.
It was based on the customer's inability to reduce her exposure that the petition was written to the EFCC because admitting that the Executive Management of the bank had been aware of the customers transactions over the years would have been an indictment on the top management of the bank. The best option at that time was to claim ignorance of the way and manner that the customer had been running her account and to use the six staffers in the branch as sacrificial lambs.
At that material time investigations carried out by the EFCC had begun to show that the staff were indeed not involved in any fraudulent activity and that the Management of the bank could not claim to be ignorant of the customers transactions over the years. The customer had also admitted to the EFCC that the Management of the Bank had always been aware of her transactions or why else would they have given a brand new car to her.
In June 2009, the Chief Inspector of Diamond Bank in the person of Humphrey Akachukwu paid a visit to Ibadan branch and started making discrete enquiries from staff about the residential addresses of all the staff who had resigned their appointments. When the staff tried to find out the reason for this enquiry he informed them that the bank had decided to resolve the matter amicably. Instead of the issue being resolved, the Bank wrote another petition making the same allegations to the Department of State Security Service (S.S.S) as it was obvious to them that the EFCC had not found any staff to be involved in any criminality and their script was not working out as planned. The SSS invited the staff as well as the customer in question, Mrs. Modupe Sobodu for questioning. The evidence shown to the S.S.S revealed that the Executive management of Diamond Bank had always been aware of the customer's transactions. The SSS suspended its investigation when it became obvious that the allegations made by Diamond Bank against us were baseless.

Interestingly, in what could only be termed double speak and a total contradiction to its position to the EFCC, and SSS, the management Diamond Bank which claimed not being aware of the customers transactions admitted in court in a claimants statement deposed to by Mr. Moshood Adelotan on behalf of Diamond Bank at the Ikeja Judicial Division of the High court of Lagos State in a suit filed by the bank against the customer (Suit ID/563/2008 at the TBS Commercial Division) to recover some loans stated that the transactions carried out by the bank with this customer were carried out in line with prudent and normal banking practice. The question now is why Diamond Bank will in court claim that the transactions the bank carried out were done so in line with prudent and normal banking practice and then inform the security agencies that these same staff were guilty of fraud. How can the bank hold two contradictory positions on the same issue? Definitely there is a credibility issue here. It is glaring that these inconsistencies from the bank indicate that there is something to hide.

On the 6th of October 2009, the ex staff received calls from the Bank that the Head of Human Capital Mr Donald Nosiri was on his way to Ibadan to meet with them with a view to find a permanent solution to the lingering issue. However, one of the ex staff Mr Tokunbo Obayemi who arrived early at the Ibadan Lebanon branch which was the venue of the meeting was met by a Regional Security Officer Of Diamond Bank Mr Isaiah Akpan who came in from Lagos that morning.

What Mr. Tokunbo Obayemi was then given was a purported letter of dismissal dated 5th of October 2009 stating that he was being dismissed for negligence. Mr. Obayemi refused to accept the letter stating that he had resigned his appointment with the bank over seven months earlier and could not be dismissed after he had resigned. He also informed Mr. Akpan that negligence which was the reason of the bank gave for his dismissal was contrary to the accusation of fraud which the bank made against him and other colleagues. On the orders of Mr Akpan, the security men did not to allow Mr Obayemi out of the bank because of his refusal to collect the said letter of dismissal. Mr Obayemi was rescued from the bank after two hours of being locked in the banks premises by his counsel Mr Adebayo Salihu ESQ from Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) Chambers who had to race to the bank when he got a distress call from Mr Obayemi that he was being detained against his will. The letters of dismissal were subsequently sent by courier to all the ex staff stating negligence and not fraud as the reason for their dismissal.

On receipt of the court processes, the Executive Management of Diamond Bank, National Daily gathered, became quite desperate to avoid this lawsuit which is sure to dent the image which they want the public to have. Several meetings were held on how to frustrate the ex staff.
Eventually it was agreed that another petition be written to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja requesting that the case be transferred to Abuja and reinvestigated with the frivolous reason that the Bank believed that the EFCC Lagos had compromised themselves in their conduct of the investigation. The Bank also mandated the Chief Inspector Mr. Humphrey Akachukwu to ensure that this new ploy worked to the advantage of the bank at all costs.

Exactly as planned, about three weeks after Diamond Bank was served with the court processes all the ex staff were suddenly requested to report at the EFCC Office in Lagos on the 16th of March 2010. There they were informed that the EFCC Abuja had requested for the case file and that they were going to be detained and would be taken to Abuja the next day.

The next day, the staff were all bundled together in a very uncomfortable bus to the EFCC office in Abuja. At the EFCC office in Abuja they were kept in an underground cell without access to their lawyers for seven days.

When they complained about their unlawful detention, they were informed that they were being detained on orders from above. It was clear that a script written by Diamond Bank was being played out by the EFCC. When they were eventually released they were informed that they would be invited to Abuja again sometime soon. In order words the harassment is sure to continue.
The summation of the plight of the ex-staff of the bank could be summed up thus: Was there any withdrawal of N70million by the customer and staff? The answer is no; Was there any proof that the staff were about to flee the country? The answer also is no since all the staff were picked up in the office while carrying out their duties and most of the staff do not even possess International Passports; and finally, Were the staff subjected to the banks internal administrative procedures before the petition was written? The answer also is no.

National Daily learnt that no query was ever issued to any of the staff before the petition was written by the bank. In fact the query issued by the bank to the staff was issued to them over a month after the banks petition to the EFCC and this was after all the staff had been asked to proceed on indefinite suspension without pay. In order words the staff were not subjected to any hearing at all talk less of a fair hearing.

The key issues thus begging for resolution are: What made the Management of Diamond in their petition to the EFCC accused the staff of having committed fraud and further stated that they were about to flee the country. (What was the evidence the bank had showing that they wanted to run away from the country).On the other hand, the bank's official query to the staff on the customer's accounts was silent on the alleged petition/fraud committed; Why did Diamond Bank allege a fraud of N70million when indeed there was no fraud of that amount?; Management of the Bank all of a sudden claimed total ignorance of the running accounts which were the most profitable accounts in the bank in recent times. Could they really ignorant of the activities in the customer's accounts considering the turnover and income made over the years? Why did Diamond bank who claimed ignorance of the customer's transactions admitted in a court of law (not knowing that staff would get wind of the affidavit sworn to) that all transactions concerning the customer were carried out in line with prudent and normal banking practice and with the knowledge of the bank; Why didn't Diamond Bank adhere to the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2004 as amended, stipulates that the Bank discloses in writing within seven days lodgments in excess of N5 million for Corporate Bodies to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) of the EFCC or any transaction deemed suspicious. Why were these reports not rendered? These reports which would have shown the volume of the customers transactions were likely not sent as the bank did not want to draw attention of regulatory bodies to accounts that were earning the bank so much income; and Why has Diamond Bank refused to acknowledge the fact that these accounts were running this way well before we were transferred to that branch.

Other observations being raised are that: If the management of the bank says that customer was involved in cheque kitting it means Executive Management of the Bank actually approved the customer's involvement in cheque kitting. There are documented approvals to this effect; Furthermore, this customer was always approached by Executive Management of the bank for substantial deposits to help boost the deposit volumes of the bank during Financial Year end, every quarter, half year etc when the banks accounts were required to be published. Customer has always responded by giving the bank huge volumes of cheques which were given value the same day as directed by Management. These cheques usually in billions were from these same companies which the bank is claiming ignorance of; In appreciation of the customer's patronage and the high income gotten from customer's accounts over the years, Executive Management of Diamond bank in September 2008 bought her a brand new Honda Accord car valued at N4.995million. This car was presented to the customer by the Executive Management of the bank; Over the years, several Divisional heads, Inspectors, and Credit Review staff from the head office, management credit committee etc have regularly reviewed the customer's accounts, visited her and they have always commended the performance of the customer; Caution notices were sent on a daily basis to the Chief inspector of Diamond Bank Mr. Humphrey Akachukwu showing the volume of transactions on the customer's accounts; Executive Management of the bank approved the increase of the customers facilities in October 2007 even when she said she was not willing to give any additional collaterals for the increase and the existing collaterals did not cover the bank's exposure; Why is the bank running from one security agency to the other? and The malicious nature of the banks petition to the EFCC accusing innocent members of staff of fraud and maliciously stating that the said staff were about to flee the country when there was no proof of anybody attempting to flee the country only showed that management of the bank is hell bent on using some staff as sacrificial lambs in order to protect themselves.

The affected staff are of the belief that Diamond Bank Plc since October 2008 has been trying to push under the carpet their error of poor judgment while at the same time offering up some former middle and junior management staff up as sacrificial lambs by trying to pin at all cost a frightening allegation of fraud against these staff, all in an effort to cover itself from transactions which the bank encouraged and benefitted immensely from between 2005 and 2008 but which unfortunately has now gone bad.
Hearing is expected to commence on the 27th of April and being heard by Justice E. Esan.

Well,

Any comment on this now will be sub judice, since the case is already before the honorable court.

Leave judgement to the wise.

Those are financial sector risks. I have heard plenty stories banks trying to pass the blame on its staff. It is quite a pity. The bank encourages/forces you to do everything to make money for them but when issue bursts you are completely on your own.
I have a friend who as a cash officer in a bank,they were robbed while transferring money. This guy was imprisoned for 6months and his life and progress was almost brought to a halt because he was working. They did not even pity him that he might have lost his life in the attack.

@cecegorz (m)

cecegorz:

Well,

Any comment on this now will be sub judice, since the case is already before the honorable court.

Leave judgement to the wise.


Lets leave the judgment to the Just like you have said wise.

Abeg, I be layman. What is 'cheque discounting' abi cheque kitting?

Okay, I figured that out , courtesy WikiAnswers. But why would they arrest those guys, if the customer was paying the discounted cheque? Whole story sounds bizzare.

AjanleKoko:

Abeg, I be layman. What is 'cheque discounting' abi cheque kitting?

Okay, I figured that out , courtesy WikiAnswers. But why would they arrest those guys, if the customer was paying the discounted cheque? Whole story sounds bizzare.

I wonder why they did arrest them too, i believe those guys have done the right thing and should see it to the end i:e if they are not in anyway involved.

Today is the D day for the hearing. Lets hope those guys at the helm of affairs will not be bought over by the management or that God fearing justice or magistrate do the right thing.

cecegorz:

Well,

Any comment on this now will be sub judice, since the case is already before the honorable court.

Leave judgement to the wise.

how did this end?

The chaps were discharged and acquitted after a trial lasting almost ten years