Female banker jailed 7 years for stealing N2.7m
A female employee of one of Nigeria’s old generation banks, Blessing Bassey, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for stealing N2.7 million from the bank.
Bassey was earlier arraigned before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State for the crime.
Delivering judgment on Monday, the Chief Magistrate, F.M. Kayode-Alamu, sentenced Bassey following her change of plea from not guilty to guilty.
Bassey, an employee of one of the old generation banks, stole the sum from her employer from April 15 to April 20 at Iddo, Ebute Meta.
Her offense is said to contravene the provisions of Section 287(9) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of stealing on arraignment on April 22.
The court had granted her bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum, but she was unable to meet her bail conditions.
Thus, she was remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre for months.
After several adjournments, she decided to change her plea.
The court consequently reviewed the facts of the case and sentenced her.
The court, however, gave her an option to pay back the sum she stole within a year and serve four years in prison instead of seven years.
