A Magistrates’ Court in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, has ordered the remand of a 46-year-old former Sterling Bank worker , Jacob Bonet, at a correctional facility for allegedly defrauding his 86-year-old uncle of N14 million.
Mr Bonet was charged by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps with theft, cheating, impersonation and criminal misappropriation.
The offence violates the provisions of sections 270, 307, 142 and 294 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law.
The prosecutor, Marcus Audu, told the court that Aboshio Bonet, the complainant, reported the matter at the corp’s office in Kafanchan on March 17.
Mr Audu said that in 2015, the complainant, a resident of Tuyit Kagoro in the Kaura Local Government Area of the state, was advised by the defendant to open an account with Sterling Bank, Kagoro, where he worked as a marketer.
He stated that the complainant opened the account based on the defendant’s advice.
He said that the defendant then proceeded to make an ATM card with the complainant’s details without his consent and transferred the sum of N14 million from the complainant’s account into his own account using the ATM.
According to him, the defendant confessed to committing the crime during the investigation.
However, when the charges were read to him in court, he pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor urged the court not to grant the defendant bail, as the complainant gets traumatised each time he sees the defendant.
In his ruling, Magistrate Michael Bawa adjourned the matter until May 29 to decide on the defendant’s bail and commerce hearing.