A cashier simply identified as Tunde Abdulramon has landed himself a five-year jail term for allegedly defrauding his employer of N64,420,900.

Abdulramon, who used the money to marry a new wife and also open the exact business of his employer for his new wife, was served the judgement at the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.

Justice Raliat Adebiyi, who sentenced Abdulramon to prison, also ordered him to make restitution.

This is by returning all the properties he acquired while in his employer’s company and also the money that he stole.

The court arraigned him on August 19, 2013, on 11 counts bordering on stealing and fraudulent false accounting, which were preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to Justice Adeniyi, the offences Abdulramon committed contravened Sections 390 and 335 (d) of the criminal laws of Lagos State in 2003.

Abdulramon, while he was the cashier of Prime Grocers International Limited, which sells wholesale and retail consumer goods and is located in the Oke Arin area of Lagos State, was in charge of payments for invoices raised by sales representatives from customers.

He also documented them in his cash register and then lodged the monies collected into the company’s designated bank account.

Abdulramon was, however, alleged to have deleted the invoices and diverted large sums of money paid by customers and lodgers into a different account.

The convict continued to do that until the company’s managing director discovered the fraud in 2012.

That was after an audit of the computer software was collected following a tip-off that he had been deleting the company’s invoices.

Abdulramon was said to have committed the crime for three years between January 2009 and 2012, until he was discovered to be defrauding his employer.

Six witnesses were called up by the prosecuting team during Abdulramon’s trial, including the complainant, Constance Obi.

Obi thereafter told the court that she met the convict in 2002 when her company decided to go into the importation of goods for distribution.

“Abdulramon was one of the casual labourers who discharged goods from the container, but in 2004, he approached me for assistance and then he was permanently employed at the company,” Obi said.

“His duty in 2004 included picking and packing goods for customers before he was promoted to a cashier.”

Obi further testified that she got a phone call from an anonymous person in November 2012, where she was instructed to check on the cashier in her company, Abdulrahmon.

She said the anonymous caller told her that Abdulramon is a criminal, especially after acquiring some properties, including vehicles, and also marrying a new wife.

Obi also told the court that three days after she received the call, Abdulramon walked into her office to submit his resignation letter, which she rejected outright.

She explained that it was at that point that she checked the computer’s audit trail that filtered the convict’s identification and printed out a report that showed that he had truly been deleting the company’s invoices.

Abdulramon, in his defence, however, denied the allegations levelled against him but delivering her judgement, Justice Adebiyi found the convict guilty.

“Abdulramon took advantage of the level of the trust reposed by the chief executive officer of the company (the complainant); the offence was also committed continuously and repeatedly for over a period of four years,” she said.

“The court finds the level of culpability of the convict to be high; as regards the harm caused, the court finds that the acts of the convict ought to have caused a degree of significant economic loss to his employer, although the employer appeared not to have realised this for four years.

“The amount stolen was of significant value and the convict was also involved in conducting a similar kind of business to that of his employer while still in employment, therefore creating a conflict of interest,” the judge held.

“Tunde Abdulramon is hereby sentenced on counts one to nine, to two and a half years and on counts 10 and 11, two and a half years, to run concurrently.”

The court also ordered the disposal of properties acquired by Abdulramon, especially those that he bought with the money stolen from the company and the payment of proceeds to the complainant.
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