The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned three men before an Ikeja Special Offences Court for allegedly stealing the sum of N3.5 billion from Access Bank.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three men are Michael Igbomins, David Onyeike and Moses Iruolaje.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecutor said: “A staff of the bank plugged an HP Elitebook laptop into his branch network where he was working for about 16 years as an IT representative with the bank. He gave remote access to his cohorts for them to perpetrate the fraud on the network of the bank. He employed other defendants and moved money out through them.”

The EFCC counsel, Abdulhamid Tukur, thereafter, prayed the court for a trial date and for the defendants to be remanded in a correctional facility.

The defence counsel, however, informed the court that there was no pending application before the court and prayed that the needful would be done before the next adjourned date.

The prosecutor told the court that the defendants allegedly committed the offences sometime in 2023 in Lagos.

The prosecution submitted that the defendants, with dishonest intent, allegedly stole and converted for their own use the sum of N3.5 billion, property of Access Bank.

EFCC also alleged that the defendants retained the said amount of money, the proceeds they knew to have been from an unlawful act.

According to the anti-graft agency, the alleged offences violate Section 17 of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004 and Section 280 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.

The trial judge, Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe, remanded the defendants in Ikoyi Custodial Centre pending the hearing and determination of their bail application.

Abike-Fadipe, however, adjourned the case until 28 November for commencement of trial.