Industrial Court orders bank to pay ex-employee N3. 2 million

EFCC sues banker, 1 other for money laundering

THE Ibadan Division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the defunct Mainstream Bank, that fused into Skye Bank to pay the total sum of N3.2 million to one of its ex-employees, Mr. Adekambi Adegoke, for its refusal to pay him an outstanding three months salary and the attached costs demanded by the worker.

According to records, Adegoke had worked with the defunct Afribank, which employed him in 1986.

He was, however, suspended for three months by the bank, but was recalled later and he resumed his duties with his former employers.
Afribank, however, did not pay him the three months salaries due to him during the suspension. The bank’s ownership later passed over to Mainstream Bank.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC yesterday continued a case of money laundering and fraudulent practices against a staff of a first generation bank and a man who claimed to be a businessman, now at large, at the Federal High Court, Adeoyo, Ibadan.

According to a 23-count charge submitted to the court by the anti-graft agency, the fake businessman, one John Adams, was said to have opened the account at the Ibadan branch of the bank and used same to defraud one Patrick E. Agie, of the Federal High Court, Ughelli to the tune of N800, 000; in two tranches of N600, 000 and N200, 000.

Agie had later caused a petition to be written to the Enugu State branch of the EFCC, while the operatives of the agency immediately swung into action, following instructions from the Head of the Advance Fee Fraud Section to investigate.

Head of the Investigation Team detailed for the assignment, Mr. Onoja Shen of the South East Zone of the agency in Enugu, told the court yesterday that during the course of their investigations, it was discovered that John Adams, not only opened the account with a fake drivers license, but that the address he listed on his forms as his home address, a cream coloured, one-storey building on 6B, Fatobi Streeet, Kasenu Village, Odo Ona, Elewe Ibadan turned out to be some scattered pieces of plots, without any identifiable edifice within the vicinity.

The judge adjourned the case till April 14, 2016 for further hearing after consulting with both parties.

Adegoke was in the employment of his new employers for another one year, before he retired from its services.

The bank, claiming that he was not his employer during his suspension period, refused to pay for the period.

Adegoke’s lawyer, Bode Elemide, however, argued that Mainstream Bank acquired Afribank’s liabilities as well as its assets, when it took over the ownership of the financial institution.

The Industrial Court concurred with the plaintiff’s lawyer’s position and gave judgment accordingly.

While delivering her judgment, Justice I. Kola-Olalere ordered that Mainstream Bank should pay the sum of N2, 477, 600.04k to Adegoke for the three months salaries due to him during the period of his suspension.

She also awarded the sum of N500, 000 against the bank as damages and another N200, 000 as costs against the defendants.

The judge averred that the refusal of Mainstream Bank to pay for the ex employee’s entitlements during his suspension was a clear violation of the collective agreement between the management of Afribank and the Association of Staffs of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (ASSIBIFIE) of June 3, 2015.