Court okays ex-Unity Bank Manager’s dismissal over N72m fraud

The National Industrial Court, Abuja, has affirmed the dismissal
of one Mohammed Bello, a staff of Unity Bank Plc, for his
involvement in a N72 million fraud.

Bello was dismissed on grounds of negligence when it was
discovered that his failure to place a ‘ Post No Debit’ (PND)
restrictions on a customer’s account allowed fraudulent transfers
of the sum of N72m from the account. The defendant was however,
able to later trace and retrieve the sum of N57 million of the
account leaving the bank to incur a N15 million financial loss.

Delivering judgment, Justice Rakiya Haastrup, said the claimant
challenged his summary dismissal as unlawful on the grounds that he
was dismissed based on the same allegations for which he was
already standing trial before an Upper Area Court in Abuja.
Haastrup said the claimant(Bello) also averred that he was
arrested, detained and prosecuted for criminal conspiracy, criminal
breach of trust and theft.

The judge said that the evidence before the court, however,
proved that the terms and conditions of employment of the claimant
as contained in the Employee Handbook, which governed his
appointment was adhered to before he was suspended without pay
pending the conclusion of investigation by the defendant’s
panel.

She noted that at the conclusion of its investigation, the panel
found the claimant negligent and recommended his summary dismissal
through a letter dated June 3, 2015. The judge further held that
from the entire evidence adduced by the claimant, he was unable to
present before the court that he complied with the instruction of
the Branch Manager to place PND restriction on the said
account.

According to Haastrup the excuse of the claimant that it was not
his schedule of duty to place PND on accounts cannot hold water as
he is answerable to the Branch Manager and ought to carry out
instructions given by him. ” By his summary dismissal, the claimant
is not entitled to any salaries, entitlements, benefits or even
damages. “The legal burden is on the claimant who asserts to prove
his claim on the balance of probability and cannot shift the burden
on the defendant until he has first discharged the burden placed
upon him.

” The claimant herein fails to prove before the court that he
complied with the instructions of the Branch Manager in placing PND
on the account. “The defendant had dismissed the claimant summarily
on grounds of gross negligence in line with the terms of contract
as contained in the defendant’s employee handbook.

“In my view, the defendant herein was able to establish the
negligence of the claimant to justify his summary dismissal, and I
so hold. ” The sole issue is therefore resolved against the
claimant. “Consequently, the reliefs of the claimant cannot be
granted and are hereby dismissed in its entirety,” she
concluded.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the claimant prior
to his suspension and summary dismissal was employed by the
defendant (Unity Bank Plc) on Jan.1, 2006 and rose to the position
of a Business Service Manager. In his complaint, he had urged the
court to declare his dismissal as unlawful, pay his salaries and
allowances from the time of his suspension in March 2015 until
date. Bello also sought for an award of N10 million as damages.

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!