A former staff of Keystone Bank Limited, Ebele Bernardine Okpala has been charged to court for alleged involvement in over N35,000,000.00 credit facility fraud.
The 43-year-old suspect was charged by the Legal Section of Police Special Fraud Unit, PSFU, over a 4-count charge before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Mrs. Ebele Bernardine Okpala who had been on the run was however tracked and arrested by detectives for alleged offences of fraudulent conversion and stealing of Thirty-Five Million Naira (N35,000,000.00) being the credit facility she obtained in July 2023 from a financial services firm as Prove-of-Funds to facilitate approval of Canadian Visa for her daughter.
According to the SP. Eyitayo Johnson, Police Public Relations Officer for PSFU, “The money was deposited in the suspect’s account domiciled in Keystone Bank Limited and secured by a Post-No-Debit (PND) placed by KBL at the behest of the financial company; to preserve the funds.
The Police disclosed that the suspect, working in connivance with one of her colleagues at the bank, who was a Service Manager, circumvented procedures/processes emplaced by KBL and lifted the PND without authorisation; to enable Ebele Okpala to transfer the money out to settle personal needs.
“After the act, on the 6th of September 2023, she absconded from her duties at the bank till date. However, detectives tracked her to Delta State and she was arrested on 4th July, 2024.”
