State, has arrested a 39-year-old trader,
Okonkwo Nwachukwu, for allegedly
opening multiple accounts with Zenith
Bank, under different identities.
The police said the action was meant to
defraud financial institutions and
unsuspecting members of the public.
A statement by the SFU Police Public
Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Isintume-
Agu, said the SFU Commissioner of
Police had received a petition from the
bank on February 12, 2014.
It reads in part, "The petition alleged
that Nwachukwu had appeared at the
Amuwo Odofin branch of Zenith Bank to
open a savings account and presented
an already completed savings account
opening package with the name,
Obiozor Ifeanyi, and identified himself
as such with a National Identity Card.
"While the Customer Service office was
checking the documents, Nwachukwu
allegedly went to the Marketing Unit
and collected another savings account
opening package and completed same
with another name, Ogueji Nnamdi. He
allegedly returned to the Customer
Service Desk and presented same for
account opening with another National
Identity Card bearing Ogueji Nnamdi."
Nwachukwu's attempt to open another
savings account within minutes with
another identity was said to have
aroused the suspicion of the Customer
Service Officer.
Upon searching the bank's system with
Nwachukwu's phone number, the
customer service officer was said to
have discovered that he already
possessed about 25 savings accounts at
various branches under different names.
The statement added, "It was further
alleged that Nwachukwu also operated a
corporate account with number
1012000129, belonging to Chukon
Integrated Limited, and he also
identified himself as Okonkwo
Nwachukwu when he opened the said
account.
"A native of Okija Ihiala LGA of Anambra
State, Nwachukwu is into cargo business
and owns an office at Block 4, Shop 169
A.P.T. Market Trade Fair, Lagos."
PUNCH Metro gathered that
Nwachukwu explained that the multiple
accounts he opened was to enable him
run his business successfully.
He claimed that the cashless policy of
the CBN did not permit him to
withdraw a huge sum of money in one
account and as such, he was advised to
open multiple accounts to spread his
money.
He added that he had N50,000 each in
15 different accounts, while the
remaining ones had N20,000, N10,000
and N5,000 respectively.
Nwachukwu also said the National
Identity Card and PHCN bills were
forged by one Pepper who was at large.
The suspect came back from China on
January 27, 2014 and started the
multiple account opening from February
5, to 7, 2014 when he was
apprehended.
SFU Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Zubairu Muazu, commended the
management of Zenith Bank for their
discovery and advised other banks to be
at alert to such scammers "who work as
a syndicate to defraud members of the
public.
"Investigation is ongoing to unravel
more about the suspect's motive behind
the multiple account opening,"
Isintume-Agu added.
Source: punch
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