Bank manager helped to dupe me –Pastor
Bank manager introduced them to each other –Police
It was a private transaction –Bank
When Evangelist John Ahunu encountered another customer in his bank manager’soffice, he had no qualms about transacting business with him especially as they were introduced to each other by the female bank official. But almost two years after, his N20 million is still hanging somewhere. What is this?
A church leader, Evangelist John Ahunu, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police for the recovery of the N20 million he alleged was defrauded of by a fellow customer of an old generation bank in connivance with the manager of the same bank. Ahunu combines the pulpit with some businesses that come his way, believing that he needs not wait on his church members before he makes ends meet.
His business drive paid off sometime in 2012 after the sale of a building. He made N20 million. The petition by Ahunu’s counsel, Mr. Johnson Anumudu, to the Inspector General of Police was dated August 1, 2013.
The clergyman would not keep such an amount at home, so, he headed straight to his bank (an old generation bank) at Chevron Area of Lekki, in Victoria Island, Lagos.
It was reported that while the man of God was preparing to deposit the money in a fix account with the bank, his account officer, who also doubles as the manager of the branch, came into her office with another supposed customer of the bank, who later identified himself as Alhaji Muhammed Buhari.
In the petition, Ahunu claimed that when the female bank manager, identified as Florence, came into her office where he was filling papers to fix the amount, she introduced him to Buhari, who promptly told him that he was a relation to the former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
The said Buhari, it was gathered, claimed to be a United Nations Millennium Development Goals ambassador and a member of the MDG Committee, West Africa.
While the bank manager introduced the two men to each other, Ahunu claimed that she loaned the man the N20 million which he needed to use to finance a business deal.
The bank manager, Ahunu claimed, had promised that Buhari would refund the money in two weeks. In a chat with reporters on the alleged fraud, Ahunu said, “A few days after the proceeds from the sale were paid into my account, the bank manager invited me to the bank and introduced Buhari to me.
She told me that he (Buhari) was a businessman and needed some money to finance oil supplies. She assured me that Buhari was genuine and that I would get an interest of six per cent after two weeks if I loaned him the money.
“Being a branch manager, I didn’t suspect her of anything. I signed the transfer funds that would make her hand the money over to Buhari. But two weeks after, I received neither the capital nor the interest promised. When I tried contacting Buhari, he refused to pick his calls.
When I couldn’t get my money back, I contacted a lawyer to petition the police on my behalf,” Ahunu said. Ahunu was given a rapid hearing at the Force Headquarters in Abuja as the matter was reportedly transferred to the Special Fraud Unit of the force, at Ikoyi, Lagos, by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja, for attention. Saturday Mirror learnt that following an investigation by the SFU, the said Buhari was arrested and later released on bail.
Although both men were said to have eventually reached an agreement about the payment at the SFU, Ahunu claimed that he is yet to receive anything from the man. SFU’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Isintume-Agu, confirmed knowledge of the case. According to her, “This case was handled by our Financial Malpractice and Investigation unit over a year ago. The suspect in this case is Buhari; all the bank manager did was to introduce both parties to each other.
We arrested Buhari and later granted him bail. The matter is still under investigation,” Isintume- Agu said. Alhaji Buhari’s counsel, identified simply as Mr. Nicholas, denied the fraud allegation against his client, and insisted the transaction as “business deal gone bad.”
According to the counsel, “This whole thing between Ahunu and Buhari is simply a business transaction that went bad. Buhari was to execute an oil transaction and got a loan from Ahunu. Everything fell apart from there. The products that had already been purchased could no longer be discharged. Buhari lost a lot of money, so it is not as if he deliberately refused to pay back Ahunu his money.”
A statement from the bank’s Brand and Communication Department denied the manager’s complicity in the matter. The statement reads, “This is an unfortunate case involving two customers of the bank in 2012, who appear to have had a private transaction.
We sympathise with Ahunu, but unfortunately, we cannot interfere as the transaction was between two parties and the bank was not privy to same.” The clergyman, almost in tears, urged the police chief to do everything in his powers to retrieve his money from Buhari, while also calling on appropriate authorities to investigate the activities of the said bank he claimed is used by fraudsters to defraud innocent customers.
Source: National Mirror
