Accountant Fakes Own Kidnap To Steal Company’s $50,000

akinola

The Lagos State Police Command have arrested one Mr Femi Akinola, 30, an accountant working with Eterna Plc for allegedly stealing the sum of $50,000 belonging to the lubricant-producing company.

According to reports, Mr Akinola was on Thursday, November 17 sent to withdraw the sum from the company’s account at United Bank for Africa (UBA) in the Marina area on Lagos Island, only for to him get back to office and claimed he was kidnapped and dispossessed of the money and his own personal valuables.

The company immediately reported the matter to the Police Station to which Akinola was subsequently arrested.
During interrogation, the suspect denied faking his own kidnapping but led the operatives to the fence of a primary school in the Bariga area, where $30,000 concealed inside a concrete block was recovered.

The State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, while parading Akinola at the Police headquarters in Ikeja, said he perfected his plan by stripping himself and then threw his phones into a river to avoid suspicion.

“The suspect worked with a multinational company in the state. He was sent to withdraw $50,000. After withdrawing the money, he faked his own kidnap and claimed that the kidnappers collected the money.

“The police have been able to recover $30,000. He confessed to have given out $15,000. We are making efforts to recover the remaining sum,” the CP said.

In his statement, Akinola, an Ondo State indigene, claimed that one Kingsley who lives in the UK and a fraudster in Lagos connived together to defraud him.

 

He said Kingsley’s accomplice hypnotized him, adding that the man had left before it dawned on him that he had been defrauded.

“I am also into music. I used to chat with one Kingsley in the UK, who wanted to help me with my music career. I chatted with him that day and I told him that I just withdrew $50,000. He told me he needed $15,000. He sent somebody to meet me around Marina to collect the money. It was after the person collected the money and my phones and left that I came to my senses.

“I was confused and didn’t know what to do. At that point, I decided to hide the remaining $35,000 at the back of a primary school in Bariga, and left for Epe to commit suicide. On getting there, I changed my mind and reported to the police that I was robbed.”

The suspect stated that he was known for honesty, which had earned him awards from the company every year.

“I earn over N120,000 per month. I didn’t have intention of using the money to promote my music career. That was not the first time I would withdraw money for the company as an accounting officer. I had withdrawn more than that in the past. I have been working with the company for five years,” he added.