Operatives of the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have commenced investigations into the activities of Obinna Nwaobi, a former Head of Operations of a new generation bank, for allegedly authorising the criminal diversion of N515 million from the Debt Service Reserve Account belonging to a customer, DAHUA Paper Company, without authorisation.
The Commission received a petition dated 22 June 2026 from the bank against Nwaobi. The petition alleged that the said sum left the customer’s account in three tranches of N200 million, N150 million and N165 million respectively on 17 July 2024.
According to the petitioner, the account from which the money was moved was reactivated in June 2024. Upon reactivation, the account was not placed on Post No Debit as required, which led to the fraudulent withdrawals from the account. These transactions were processed from the bank’s Okpara Avenue, Enugu Branch, using forged documents and authorised by Obinna Nwaobi, who was the Head of Operations at the time, the petitioner alleged.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the said account is a Bank of Industry loan repayment account which is not accessible to customers as it is meant for the repayment of a loan. Withdrawals or transfers to third parties are not allowed on loan repayment accounts without the approval of the Account Officer, the Regional Manager and the Credit Monitoring Team. However, transactions that took place on the account were made illegally with forged documents and allegedly authorised by the suspect who was the Head of Operations at that time.
The suspect is currently standing trial for another case of unauthorised withdrawal of 510,000 United States dollars before a Federal High Court in Enugu. He was arraigned on Thursday 13 November 2025 on a nine count charge bordering on forgery and criminal diversion of 510,000 dollars, also belonging to a customer of the same bank.
The bank had alerted the Commission through a petition, alleging that the sum of 510,000 dollars belonging to its customer, Lantern Gate Nigeria Limited, was moved to six different accounts on the authorisation of the suspect without the approval of the customer. The suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
By A.Ikechukwu
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