Three bank workers allegedly conspire to hack server to steal N20bn

Three former employees of First Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday appeared before a Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja over allegation of attempting to hack the bank’s server.

The former workers were identified as Ozioma Ugorji, 35; Ugwu Emeka, 32; and Obike Chukwuka, 38.

They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for allegedly attempting to steal N20bn from the bank and were apprehended by the anti-graft agency on March 6, 2021, following an intelligence report.

During cross-examination by one of the defence counsel, Uchenna Ozoagbo, a prosecution witness, Adamu Dahiru, told the court that the defendants were apprehended after one of them connected a laptop he collected from the syndicate to the bank’s server.

He said, “They conspired to give access to a fraudster to defraud the bank of over N20bn. The report we gathered was that the money was in the cloud and they needed to bring it out.

“When the first defendant (Ugorji) was arrested, he made a statement that he was introduced to the syndicate by the third defendant (Chukwuka) and that they had communicated with someone from the headquarters.

“The second defendant made a statement that a laptop was given after several promises that he should connect the laptop to the bank’s system.

“When he was on duty, he connected the laptop to the banking system, but during the connection, the I.P. of the laptop was picked up and the system was destroyed.”

The judge, S.O. Solebo, adjourned the case till October 5, 2022, for continuation of trial.