AGF takes over prosecution of Polaris Bank, official for alleged N16.5bn fraud

Bank Fraud in Nigeria: AGF takes over prosecution of Polaris Bank, official for alleged N16.5bn fraud

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has taken over the prosecution of Polaris Bank and a staff member, Chinenye Duru, for alleged N16.5 billion fraud.

The office of the Inspector General of Police, which filed the case in December 2023, accused Polaris Bank and Mr Duru of fraudulently diverting over N16.5 billion from a customer’s various accounts within nearly eight years.

The police identified the bank customer and the victim of the alleged crime as Onukogu Victor Hezekiah, the spiritual head of the Living Christ Mission Church, Onitsha, Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

According to the prosecution, the defendants diverted the money from Mr Hezekiah’s accounts between 2017 and 2023, while Mr Duru served as the customer’s account officer. Mr Hezekiah is fondly called Daddy Hezkiah by his followers.

A lawyer from the AGF office, V.J. Alma, informed the trial judge, Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that Mr Fagbemi directed the takeover of the case from the police in the exercise of his powers as the AGF under Section 174(1)(b) of the Nigerian constitution.

Mr Alma did not give any reason for the AGF office’s decision to take over the case.

Polaris Bank Plc and Mr Duru are the first and the 2nd defendants in the case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/603/2023