ICPC Swings into action, arrests bank operation managers

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arrested a bank manager in Osogbo, Osun state, for clogging ATMs with cash bundles that were still wrapped.

The ICPC spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, said in a statement released on Friday that the cash bundles were loaded into the ATMs while still wrapped and, as such, could not be dispensed through the machines.

The affected bank was busted when the ICPC Compliance Team made a follow-up visit to the concerned bank after a general compliance raid had been done earlier.

According to Ogugua, the ICPC team directed that the wrappers are removed and the cash appropriately loaded.

However, when a follow-up visit was undertaken the following day to ascertain the level of compliance, the Team discovered that one of the ATMs still needed to be loaded with un-removed wrappers. The Operation Manager of the Bank was arrested and taken in for questioning.

In another development, the commission said the branch service head of another Bank in Deidei, Abuja, was taken into custody over the “deliberate refusal to upload cash into the branch’s Automated Teller Machines (ATM) even when the cash was available, and people were queuing at the ATMs.”

“When the ICPC monitoring team stormed the bank at about 1:30 pm to ensure compliance and demanded an explanation as to why all the ATMs were not dispensing cash, it was informed by the branch’s Head of Operations that the bank just got delivery of the cash,” the commission said.

“However, facts available to the ICPC operatives indicated that the branch delivered the cash around 11:58 am and either willfully or maliciously refused to feed the ATMs with the money.

“Against this backdrop, the ICPC team compelled the bank to load the ATMs with the redesigned Naira notes and ensured that they were all dispensing before arresting the culprit.

“Investigations are still ongoing, and the Commission will take appropriate actions as soon they are concluded.”

(TNT)