According to Punch, the police said the suspects usually obtained the cheques from people who are experts in stealing cheque books from unsuspecting people, then they will present the cheques to their insider in the bank, who will dubiously verify the account holder and the signature before the money could be paid out.
The men were arrested at the Pipeline area of Abule-Egba, a suburb in Lagos following a tip off. While Oyedepo Adesola and Kola Ademola were arrested on Wednesday, July 23, Kola Osho was arrested the following day July 24th. They were found with two dud cheques belonging to a commercial bank, and some forged letter-head documents bearing ‘Ministry of Finance & Economic Development'.
In his confessional statement, 57 year old Osho who hails from Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, said his desire to pursue a better life abroad made him get involved in the criminal act of bank fraud.
"I was formerly doing supplying and clearing business. I wanted to use the documents the police found on me to process a visa to the United Kingdom. I got the forged documents from the Internet. Ademola gave the cheques to me and I returned them because I could not cash them. He is like a son to me as I am his father’s friend. So, I sent back all the businesses he brought, because I did not want any trouble. I used to have insiders in the banks, but I have cut off from them all. I knew I cheated when I got the forged documents to process my visa, but I did not have any option. It also did not work out.” he said
Another suspect, Kola Ademola, 33, who hails from Ikire, Osun State claims to be a graduate of Business Administration and runs an Educational center. He said he got the cheque books from a certain Samson he met at Obalende in Lagos and that they were yet to make any money from the cheque books, a situation he described as unfortunate.
“I am an Educational Consultant. That is what I do for a living. I also enroll pupils for final-year examination. Last year, I met one boy called Samson who stayed in Obalende, and he was the one who got the cheques and brought them to me. I don’t know how he got them, but they were original cheques. We delivered these to the banks insiders who worked on them, and brought out the cash. But because of the present cashless policy, we can only withdraw less than N100,000 which would not require the confirmation from the signatories. This is the third cheque I would be bringing to Mr. Osho, but he said he does not have any insider in that particular bank. On the first cheque, he said the account did not contain much money. The second cheque too was not successful. So, we have not made any money from these deals. It is just unfortunate.” he said
The last suspect, Oyedepo Adesola, aged 36, on the other hand claims to be innocent and was only on a visit to Mr Osho's office when the police arrested him.
“I hold a Higher National Diploma from a polytechnic in Oyo State. I studied Accounting and finished in 2007. I do not know what the police are talking about. I simply came to Osho to transact a business, and they got me arrested. I am innocent.” he said
Source: Punch
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