By Yetunde Ayobami Ojo

An oil marketer and dealer, Mrs Funmi Alebiosu has narrated to a Lagos High Court, Ikeja how four of her employees defrauded her of N83million, while she was away in United Kingdom very sick. 

Led-in-evidence by the prosecution counsel from the Special Fraud Unit of the Police, Mr. Sylvester Azubike, before Justice Adenike Coker, the witness explained how the defendants did it.

The Nigerian Police had arraigned Obande Emmanuel, Dauda Akeem, Fagunwa Michael and Abdul Samson on a five counts charge bordering on fraud.null

The witness told court she received a call from her business partners, Oando, complaining about the reduction in her company’s capital, asking her to recapitalise.

The businesswoman told the court that the defendant, Emmanuel and three others now at large, between 2018 and 2019, during their employment, stole and dishonestly converted the sum of N7million to the benefit of Abdul Samson.

She revealed that her former filling station manager, Emmanuel connived with others to steal the company’s sales by collecting the sum N7.7million from the daily cash sales without remitting the same into the company’s account.

She further told the court that the defendants dishonestly converted the sum of N10, 560,000 sales to personal benefits.

The police alleged that the defendant and others between 2018 and September 17, 2019 within Lagos as the employees of Oando Service Station conspired amongst themselves to commit a felony, to wit; stealing the sum of ₦22,234,000 property of Oando Service Station.
 
After listening to her testimony, the trial judge subsequently adjourned cross-examination to February 15, 2022.