A Compliance Officer with First Bank Plc, Chris Ekpe, has told a Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja that the real name of the alleged fake Army General, Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa is Hassan Kareem Ayinde.
Ekpe, who is a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Bolarinwa over an alleged N266.5 million fraud and impersonation, told the trial judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo that the defendant changed his name sometimes in 2016.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned a 13-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents and possession of documents containing false pretence to the tune of N266.5 million.
The EFCC accused the defendant of falsely representing himself as a General in the Nigerian Army and obtained the sum of N266,500,000 from Kodef Clearing Resources Limited.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The banker in his testimony narrated how the alleged fake army General, Bolarinwa Oluwasegun Abiodun, perfected his change of name before swindling a businessman of N270 million.
Ekpe, while being led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, confirmed to the court that his bank received a notary publication dated December 20, 2016, with a letter of change of account name from the defendant on February 2, 2017.
He further testified that the real name of the alleged fake Army General name was Hassan Kareem Ayinde.
The witness stated that upon receiving the change of name documents, the bank thereafter changed his account name from Hassan Kareem Ayinde to Olusegun Abiodun Bolarinwa.
Mr Oyedepo asked him what is the account balance of the defendant as, at the time of the change of account name, the witness revealed that it was N1, 319.04.
Giving evidence further, the First Bank compliance officer revealed how huge sums started coming into the defendant’s account from the complainant’s account domiciled in UBA and how it was utilised for various personal needs ranging from debit alert of boutiques and ATM withdrawal.
