₦airaland Forum

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alleged that some staff of A Bank defrauded the bank and its customers of N874 million within three days.

The agency said this, on Wednesday, when it presented witnesses in an ongoing fraud case.

The suspects in the trial are Olusegun Babasola, Abisola Ahmed, Uchechukwu Uma, and Jude Aphaeus, who are staff of the bank,

They are being prosecuted for an alleged N874 million fraud before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.

They allegedly played roles in the hacking of the bank’s database and cloning of more than 22 ATM cards used to steal and divert to personal use about N874 million belonging to five corporate customers: American International Insurance Company Limited (AIICO); Interswitch; OVH Energy Marketing Ltd.; Bank Sinking Fund Account and FSL Securities Ltd.

They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, which prompted the ongoing trial.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, Peter Ige, an Information System Auditor with the bank, narrated how his Department had been called upon to investigate the fraud.

Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Nnaemeka Omewa, the witness identified the four staff of the bank in the dock and gave details of the findings of the internal investigation carried out by his team.

“On 15 July, 2019, as a System Auditor, my team was called upon to look at an instant of ATM fraud reported to the Internal Audit and to investigate same.

“We observed that the accounts were linked to a set of ATM cards, with their daily withdrawal limits increased from N150,000 to about N150 million,” he said.

He further told the court that the permitted frequency of withdrawal was also increased, adding that “this was very abnormal; and so, it aided the commission of the fraud.”

Ige also stated that the investigation focused on the members of staff who had authorised privilege and login details to view the accounts of customers and also increase such frequency and limits on withdrawals.

“Normally, there should be a request either from the customer or another department requesting the services.

“In this case, from our investigation conducted, there was no evidence provided by the defendants to go into these accounts,” he said.

He told the court that after the investigation by his department, an activity log was compiled, which formed part of the internal investigation.

The case was adjourned till Thursday, March 3, 2022.

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has insisted that a Christian should succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

The President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, spoke at a session with an European Union (EU) Delegation led by the Chief Election Observer, Ms. Maria Arena.

The team is in the country for meetings ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The body sought CAN’s position on the preparation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and political parties.

Ayokunle warned that the spate of insecurity might not allow the elections to be free and fair.

“We call on the Federal Government and the security agencies to wake up to the challenges. Terrorists, bandits and kidnappers are operating with impunity; nowhere is safe.”

Noting that CAN has no candidate for the office of the President, Ayokunle reiterated the need to have a Christian as Buhari’s successor.

He said though Nigeria practices democracy, its multicultural, multi-tribal, and multi-religious nature demand that “every divide be given a sense of belonging”.

The co-Chairman, Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC) noted that even if the constitution was silent on zoning, parties should use wisdom.

“We have warned all political parties against fielding either Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian Presidential candidates.

“Since President Buhari is a Muslim from the North, in the interest of equity, fairness, social justice and cohesion, the next President should be a Christian from the South”, the cleric added.

In October 2021, Ayokunle declared that the body will not accept a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket for 2023.

Apple (AAPL) has stopped selling all of its products in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, the company announced Tuesday.

The company said in a statement that it is "deeply concerned" about the Russian invasion and that in response, it has "paused all product sales" in the country. Apple also said it has moved to limit access to digital services, such as Apple Pay, inside Russia, and restricted the availability of Russian state media applications outside the country.

"Last week, we stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country. Apple Pay and other services have been limited. RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside Russia," Apple said. "And we have disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens."

Apple's decision comes as tech companies have faced increasing public pressure to act against Russia. The Ukrainian government last week had asked Apple to stop offering its app store in Russia, but some security and democracy experts said that that could harm Russian users who are protesting the Kremlin and who rely on Western tools to organize.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have all begun cracking down on content shared by Russian media amid intensifying pressure from European officials to act against pro-Russian propaganda. Netflix also said it is refusing to air Russian state TV channels in the country.

rickpat:
confusion everywhere