In a shocking revelation, Mr. Tijani Adeynka, an employee of First Bank, has been declared wanted by the Nigeria Police. Adeynka is accused of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that siphoned off approximately N40 billion from the bank.
Adeynka, who was part of the electronic products team, reportedly abused his position to process unauthorized customer reversal requests, channeling the funds to a merchant he controlled.
The Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), backed by INTERPOL, has issued a Gazette Bulletin, charging Adeynka with criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating, and banking fraud. These offences allegedly took place over an eight-year span, from 2016 to March 25, 2024, at the First Bank of Nigeria Limited.
The bank alerted the Nigerian Police on March 25, 2024, and swiftly secured court orders to freeze numerous accounts linked to the embezzlement between April 4 and 8, 2024.
Originally thought to involve N12 billion, the estimated loss has since ballooned to a staggering N40 billion. This case underscores a troubling trend noted by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), which reported that in 2023, out of 270 bank staff implicated in fraud, a mere 54 were dismissed, indicating a potentially soft stance on internal fraud.
Despite a decrease in external fraud, the consistent rate of insider complicity sheds light on persistent weaknesses in the banking sector’s internal controls and systems.
