WEMA BANK PLC IN QUAGMIRE AS LAGOS STATE MONEY DEVELOPS WINGS

Though the amount in question is considered not to be a colossal one, just about N6.5 Million, yet it just shows how porous the anti-fraud security network of Wema Bank Plc is. If an amount running into 6 digits can just develop wings and do the Houdini.

The money in question belongs to a parastatal of the Lagos Government, the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO). The money we hear is a collection of proceeds from fines imposed by the VIO & other payments by the office, between June & October of 2013. The phantom money disappeared from the Iponri branch of Wema Bank.

Apparently the account discrepancies was noticed after the VIO account department had done a reconciliation and to their shock the said amount that should be in their account had gone missing; so the alarm was raised.  The VIO office immediately demanded an investigation on their account with WEMA Bank and from the subsequent investigation, the man with the supposed magic wand (hands) turned out to be a Mr. Olakunle Olatunbosun, a teller at the bank who had been employed into the bank just 2 years before the incidence and had been transferred to the Iponri branch just a year ago.

In the course of the investigation by the panel set up by the bank, a staff of the VIO, Lateef Goloba, who works in the account department and who was directly in charge of the money deposited was able to show that he was not culpable. While Lateef Goloba, deposited the funds and got his customer's tellers duly stamped, the teller in charge, Mr.  Olakunle Olatunbosun, did not stamp and file the bank's control copies. So money was duly deposited but was not accounted for by Olatunbosun.

Working on the theory that the fraud must have been perpetrated and successful due to the active connivance of the 2 directly involved with the money, the panel set up to investigate the matter showed that Lateef Goloba was faithful in his work as he duly deposited all the funds and had evidence to show for it, only Mr. Olatunbosun couldn't account for the monies paid to him and was found culpable. So Wema Bank agreed to refund the stolen money and then Mr. Olatunbosun was sacked and handed over to the police. The bank in going further also reprimanded the supervisor in charge of Olatunbosun's department for condoning lapses and for not being alive to his duties and recommended that the staff members in that branch would forgo promotion no matter how fantastic their appraisal for one year.