Two employees of a subsidiary of Keystone Bank Plc Joachim Nnosiri and Uguru Onyike have admitted that they were coerced to make false allegations of forgery against former Managing Director, Bank PHB Plc Francis Atuche.

Keystone came into being after acquiring Bank PHB’s assets.

Both men who work with the Central Shared Services Centre of Keystone Bank made the claims in separate bail applications filed before a Lagos High Court in Ikeja on Thursday.

Nnosiri and Onyike were both arraigned on March 26 along with Atuche for alleged forgery.

In the charges filed before Justice Adeiniyi Onigbanjo, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alleged that the defendants had on March 4, attempted to smuggle forged board resolutions of some companies into Keystone Bank’s records at its headquarters in Lagos.

Contrary to EFCC’s claim, both men said they had brought the documents to the attention of the bank authorities acting on a subpoena issued by Justice Lateefat Okunnu also of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

Okunnu had issued the subpoena on the bank asking it to produce the documents in respect of a N25.7bn theft charges preferred against Atuche, his wife, Elizabeth; and former Financial Officer of Bank PHB, Ugo Anyanwu.

In their affidavits attached to their bail applications, they maintained that they found the documents in the possession of Keystone Bank, and were only forced to accuse Atuche of trying to smuggle the documents into the bank.

The affidavits were filed through their counsel, Messrs Clement Onwuenwunor and Bamidele Adewunmi.

On his part, Nnosiri claimed that he found the board resolutions in the bundle of documents being rearranged in the CSS department and forwarded them to Onyike, who was his supervisor.

Nnosiri stated, “I was locked up in the office of Mr Waidi Gbadamosi, the chief inspector of the bank till about 10 pm in the night.

“He and other senior officers of the bank surrounded and threatened me for insisting that the documents were at our department.

“I was forced to change the statement and to say that the documents were given to me by Atuche which I did at the EFCC so as to secure my job.”

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