Court jails man for stealing N3.5m from Zenith Bank

A Kaduna State High Court has sentenced a man, Mustapha Abubakar, to two years imprisonment for stealing over N3.5 million from Zenith Bank Plc.

The conviction was secured by the Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following Abubakar’s arraignment before Justice A. Bello on a one-count charge of theft.

A statement issued by EFCC on Friday said the charge reads, “That you, Mustapha Abubakar on or about the 12th of December, 2022 in Kaduna State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court intentionally caused damage to the property of Zenith Bank Plc in the sum of N3,597,000.00 (Three Million, Five Hundred and Ninety-seven Thousand Naira only) while using their bank code and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 306(b) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under Section 307 of the same Law.”

Abubakar entered a guilty plea when the charge was read in court. Following his plea, EFCC counsel M. Arumemi asked the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.

Justice Bello handed down a two-year jail term with an option of a N500,000 fine. The court also ordered the forfeiture of an iPhone 11 Pro—used in committing the offence—to the Federal Government.