A 22-year-old car painter, Taiye Obakoya, is standing trial at an Igbosere magistrate court for allegedly stealing N150,000 out of the N1million mistakenly transferred to his bank account by a customer.
The prosecuting police officer, Sergeant Nicholas Akpene told the court presided over by J.O. Adepoju that, “on October 20, Mr Dada Emmanuel, intending to pay money into his wife’s bank account, did a mobile phone money transfer of N1m from his bank account to the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account of his car painter, Obakoya.
“After discovering the error, he phoned Obakoya and pleaded with him not to tamper with the money, but the defendant assured him that no such amount was credited to his account.
“The next morning, the defendant refused to pick his calls and when the complainant checked him at home and at his workshop under the bridge at Obalende, Obakoya wasn’t there.
“The complainant then reported the matter to GTB, which placed a restriction on Obakoya’s account after confirming that the N1m was successfully transferred to it and that he had already withdrawn N150,000 from it.”
Obakoya pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The Magistrate granted him N50,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum and adjourned the matter till November 15.
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