Justice Mojisola Olajuwon of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja handed down the sentence on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, after the two defendants pleaded guilty to the charge brought against them by the Makurdi Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Agama and Steve were employees of Access Bank Plc, Makurdi Branch, at the time of the offence. They were prosecuted on a one-count charge bordering on conspiracy, aiding and abetting fraud through the use of an unauthorised access device.
According to the charge, the defendants and others who are still at large allegedly used a primed ATM card on January 8, 2021, to access an account operated by Mejuru Chibueze Gospel.
The alleged transaction involved Access Bank account number 30041040648 and resulted in a loss of N9.4 million to the account holder, according to the EFCC.
The prosecution said the alleged offence contravened Section 33(2)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, which provides penalties for the unauthorised use of access devices.
After the charge was read to them in court, both defendants entered guilty pleas.
Following their pleas, EFCC prosecuting counsel, Mary Onoja, urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants in accordance with the law.
Justice Olajuwon subsequently convicted Agama and Steve and sentenced each of them to three years imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of N100,000 on each convict, payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In addition, each of the two bankers was ordered to restitute the victim to the tune of N2.1 million, bringing the total restitution ordered against them to N4.2 million.
The conviction followed the defendants’ guilty pleas and the prosecution’s presentation of the case before the court.
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