You should have notified your accounts department immediately you found out.
Even if you end up paying the money, just pray management does not get to know about it later, you may be punished for trying to handle the matter on your own. It's an integrity issue.
I advise you still discuss it with someone in the accounts department or better still make a formal report.

Did you make the payment via interbank transfer? if yes, your bank should contact the other bank and request for a recall

Write a formal letter to the bank, informing them of your mistake and the Ex staff denials that he received and withdrew such money.

The bank knows how to tame a fraudulent customer. They will advice you to involve police.

Do not involve your own employers o. You may be SUSPENDED for silliness..

HR people, if it's an employee, it will be a performance issue. Take the liability. Chasing the case is exposing ur mistakes more, and u know its not good for a career

NwaAmaikpe:


I think you are not fit to call them your subordinates.
You should be sacked for your inattention to details.

How can you justify making such mistake?

You wouldn't tolerate it if it were committed by one of your subordinates but the good thing is you admit your salary can take care of this indiscretion so it is not much of a problem afterall.

I'd advise, rather than punish the present staff by delaying his pay (even rationalizing it by implying that since they are friends so he could be in on it too).
Pay the guy from your pocket and you can either write off the other one as a bad debt or institute a legal action against the beneficiary through his bank so as to get a refund/recall.

Because trust me; the times are hard, I truly doubt the possibility of the ex-staff returning it voluntarily because he has nothing to lose.

For the first time... I swear.

Many Nigerians are very bad people and I see this reflected in the contents in this thread. No integrity, filled with cunning and conspiracy. Very many make no attempt to find constructive solutions.

You made a mistake and paid the money into a wrong account. Stuff happens, it's not the end of the world.
The former employee on the other hand committed a criminal offence by withdrawing money he knows does not belong to him.

Take it up officially with him by writing him and the bank. If he denies collecting the money and refuses to pay, invite the police as some other people have suggested.
Bank ATMs have CCTV installed; the bank will be asked to retrieve the official logs and corresponding video footage of that withdrawal. Trust me, by the time you ask for that panic will grip the guy and no bank manager will protect him.
Involve your company management early.
Do not pay the individual from your pocket he is not your employee. Management has to decide on that, and only a bad manager will ask you to do so based on the information you have provided. Besides, as someone else has pointed out, it may be interpreted as collusion by auditors.
I would not be afraid of any reprisal/sanction if I were you. If the management cannot back you up and see this as a simple clerical error on your part, they are not worth working for in the first place.

Keep us posted.

IgedeBushBoy:
OK. Maybe I should do that. Was thinking they have little or nothing to do. I didn't do the paying myself though, accounts department did it

Yh bt if the money was paid into his account by error and he has already withdrawn it there's really nothing d bank can do. Its his account and he has d right to take money from it sofar he wasn't part of d error to hv it paid into his account. If the bank initiated d transaction they can do smtn bt only wen next he has such amount in his account they can take it back or they payback from themselves bt if its u or ur coy then it will take abit more legal instructions which d bank isn't really obliged to bt they cud depends on level of influence and amount involved i guess.

NB: the guy above me advice is in order bt it doesn't change d fact he withdrew from hos own account. U will still have to discuss with him on how to get it back or not unless he clearly has such amount in his account

Cc: Igedebushboy

These things happen all the time. People are only human. It is the same way payments are delayed, or double taxed. We had a case where a guy moved to a new role and was paid salaries for his new and old role for 12 months.

Sometimes I see unexpected cash inflows and I call he or payroll.

The only issue here is a dishonest individual.

Report to your boss, take your insult and move on. The sooner the better.

The cover up is always worse than the crime

It is obvious that this guy is getting back at you or your company. I condemn his act, but it is important that superiors treat their subordinates with care just in case situations like this come up. I'm pretty sure that you sacked this guy without pay, now he is somewhere giving thanks to the almighty God for getting back his unpaid salary.

Oga,the bank cannot reverse the money oo. They can only plead with the guy. You made the mistake, you will have to pay the correct employee. May be in instalments if the ex doesn't yield to the plea.

IamaNigerianGuy:
Many Nigerians are very bad people and I see this reflected in the contents in this thread. No integrity, filled with cunning and conspiracy. Very many make no attempt to find constructive solutions.

You made a mistake and paid the money into a wrong account. Stuff happens, it's not the end of the world.
The former employee on the other hand committed a criminal offence by withdrawing money he knows does not belong to him.

Take it up officially with him by writing him and the bank. If he denies collecting the money and refuses to pay, invite the police as some other people have suggested.
Bank ATMs have CCTV installed; the bank will be asked to retrieve the official logs and corresponding video footage of that withdrawal. Trust me, by the time you ask for that panic will grip the guy and no bank manager will protect him.
Involve your company management early.
Do not pay the individual from your pocket he is not your employee. Management has to decide on that, and only a bad manager will ask you to do so based on the information you have provided. Besides, as someone else has pointed out, it may be interpreted as collusion by auditors.
I would not be afraid of any reprisal/sanction if I were you. If the management cannot back you up and see this as a simple clerical error on your part, they are not worth working for in the first place.

Keep us posted.

have you had this kind of experience before? He could loose his job for that mistake. It's pure carelessness. You take responsibilities for your actions. The worst thing to do is involve management... it shows incompetence and lack of decision making skills. The bank is a third party and out of it. It's a civil case, the police can't do anything other to resolve to ask the guy to pay and it will be at the guy i.e ex's convenience. Ban don't have right to make withdrawals except the one you signed or the ones they themselves i.e banks did in error. If it's it's error from a third party individual, it's only plea... force no go do am.

OgaApollos:
HR people, if it's an employee, it will be a performance issue. Take the liability. Chasing the case is exposing ur mistakes more, and u know its not good for a career

exactly.. take responsibilities for your actions!

400billionman:
Write a formal letter to the bank, informing them of your mistake and the Ex staff denials that he received and withdrew such money.

The bank knows how to tame a fraudulent customer. They will advice you to involve police.

Do not involve your own employers o. You may be SUSPENDED for silliness..

the money he will use in involving police will go a long way in helping to pay the present employee

oladcity:
You should have notified your accounts department immediately you found out.
Even if you end up paying the money, just pray management does not get to know about it later, you may be punished for trying to handle the matter on your own. It's an integrity issue.
I advise you still discuss it with someone in the accounts department or better still make a formal report.

he is a supervisor and there is some power attached to him to make a decision. Management will not have have problem if he does not involve police or escalate the issues to th point where it will affect the business.

nairaman66:
The police will be happy to help, but they will personalize half of the amount.. you know the police is your friend when you rub hands with them!

But before you contact the police, tell your ex worker about your plans of reporting to the police that you have confirmed from his bank that the funds have been deposited in his account and withdrawn by him. In 3 days time or less he will refund the funds or run away out of town. I am sure he will do the former

Please be careful next time! Everybody dey hustle for this buhari regime!! Even pastors as well..

it is a civil case. Involving police will not eve make it better oo.you will spend what you did not budget.

oyb:
You need to make it official. Hiding this mistake will not end well. What happens if auditors discover the payment later? It then looks as if you were running a ghost salary account scam.

the books will balance as long as the new employee won't be credited from the company's account that month.

Wow Bro, your head is loaded! That's the position I found myself. Wanted to be sure that's the best decision. Thanks for your wonderful contribution.

armadeo:
Report to the management he can be asked to issue out a bank statement at the end of the particular month to show if he indeed collected the money.

I have seen it done on occasion.

But as he doesn't work there anymore you have no right to ask for his bank details except via police wahala.

Either you pay up the staff or become entangled with the police. Your choice.

Also the company might regard you as careless so you may also get into trouble.

If I were you I would try and pay up as that ex staff won't answer you ever.

NwaAmaikpe:


I think you are not fit to call them your subordinates.
You should be sacked for your inattention to details.

How can you justify making such mistake?

You wouldn't tolerate it if it were committed by one of your subordinates but the good thing is you admit your salary can take care of this indiscretion so it is not much of a problem afterall.

I'd advise, rather than punish the present staff by delaying his pay (even rationalizing it by implying that since they are friends so he could be in on it too).
Pay the guy from your pocket and you can either write off the other one as a bad debt or institute a legal action against the beneficiary through his bank so as to get a refund/recall.

Because trust me; the times are hard, I truly doubt the possibility of the ex-staff returning it voluntarily because he has nothing to lose.

Thanks for your contribution, bro. Just that your bashing left my bumper smashed

Thanks bro

mccoy47:
Get him to deny on whatsapp or voice recording then get him arrested!

The guy above ^^^ me might not have anything reasonable to say so just ignore him

MSItachi:
The truth is it will be very hard recovering the money since you didnt inform bank early enough. Hard truth is you have to pay the guy and move on, structure a payment plan for him. Sorry Bro

Thanks bro, I do appreciate from the depth of my heart.

StOla:
Why treating it as a personal matter when it is an official matter?

Contact him by formal correspondence and give him a time frame of 2weeks to reply the correspondence, stating his position on the matter.

Then follow up with the bank formally and put him in copy. Then involve the police once the bank tries to protect their customer.

Thanks man; it's that police aspect I'm scared of tho. Don't wanna loose more than I can possibly recoup from him

CAPSLOCKED:
YOU NO SEE YOUR MONIKER, "IGEDEBUSHBOY".

UNTIL YOU CLEAR THE "BUSH" AROUND YOUR BRAIN, YOU'LL NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE CORRECTLY IN YOUR LIFE.

Dis your bashing ehn, e squeeze my boot oo,

I learned he's out of town already, working with the police. I fear that I might spend more than what I'm fighting for, if I involve the police. He seems to know it's illegal to go to his bank without his formal permission
Thanks for the advice tho

nairaman66:
The police will be happy to help, but they will personalize half of the amount.. you know the police is your friend when you rub hands with them!

But before you contact the police, tell your ex worker about your plans of reporting to the police that you have confirmed from his bank that the funds have been deposited in his account and withdrawn by him. In 3 days time or less he will refund the funds or run away out of town. I am sure he will do the former

Please be careful next time! Everybody dey hustle for this buhari regime!! Even pastors as well..

Amen. Thanks bro

LydayBobo:
Inform the Bank and ask for a recall. The process is that his account in other Bank will be liened; that is he won't have access to the account now or whenever until the money is repaid. Although you will have a lot of patience because he will have abandon the account. However the other Bank that received the inflow might require a court affidavit to return the money incase he refused to give them his concent to return. I will suggest you use diplomacy in order for it not to drag too cos I suspect collaboration according to your comment on the other friend working with you. Pray also for it not to cost you your job as well because you are the cause of the whole buhaha so to speak. May God see you through it seemless.

oyb:
You need to make it official. Hiding this mistake will not end well. What happens if auditors discover the payment later? It then looks as if you were running a ghost salary account scam.

Wow A completely different perspective. Thanks man

Thanks bro

HRtechnique:
Apparently scared to go all formal because you dont want to be seen as incompetent at work.

No one is above such mistakes.

I encourage you to notify him of your intention to involve the police and do most of the conversation via phone. Not text nor email because he may forward same to your office just to spite you.

Dont make threats just have a convrrsation with him about how far you have gone in finding out the truth and the new steps you intend taking.

Oh, thanks man

paschal47:
But why would your firm still keep account numbers of former employee? I know you want to keep records of past payment but keeping the account number is not ideal.


This happened to me also, I paid someone some cash and he denied he didn't see the money, I panicked though and returned to the bank and told them about it, the banker told me not to worry that everything is going to be alright that she would reverse it, I just brought only the evidence of payment and the next week I got an alert that the money has been reversed.

So I'll advice you go to the bank and report, then that guy's account would be flagged and no withdrawal would be made from that account it would be minused immediately once such kind of amount comes in.


My 2 kobo

Pataricatering:
Report to the bank they should place any money that comes into the account up to the amount you paid him on block. If you prove it was by mistake they will refund you. Except he stops using the account but with Bvn you should be able to trace any other account he has ul need to get a court order though . U definitely can get the money back if you can do small wahala .

Thanks sis. Na de wahala I de fear Sha. Coz it can cost me more than the money in question

Obudupikin:


Best thing you've said in a long time.

And I totally agree with you,especially the bolded.

@OP,since it isn't up to half your salary just pay up the staff and let the matter die. Consider it a cost of your mistake and be careful next time so you don't make a more costly one.

Thanks man

Originalsly:
Why would you come here forming big boy ... but crying to pay the low level employee his ever so small salary that you have diverted? Is it not your fault? ...and why would you not inform the bank instead of paying out of your pocket?...after all...it was an honest mistake... or it really wasn't? Somehow I am not swallowing your story.... I would more believe you been running a racket .... wilfully diverting subordinates'salaries and someone is not having it.

I had to pay him half from my pocket because of the pressure he subjected me to; while I seek solution

PrecisionFx:



how much?

40k

Iamsammy:
Bros I really don't kno if d alert of d payment will indicate d money is from ur company, if so, go to the bank with one of the high ranking officer in your company to get the statement of his account and get the idiot arrested. They are like that every where. Am once a victim of such

It reflects the name of the company, and even the month for which it's being paid. Thanks