Lagos, Nigeria: January 9, 2018: A 35 year old man, Olowu Kehinde, has been arraigned before the Ogba Magistrate Court for stealing N735,000 belonging to Ikeja Electric.
Olowu, a third party payment collection agent based in Ipaja area of Lagos State, absconded with the money, after refusing to remit the proceeds collected from sales of Ikeja Electric Prepaid Meter Recharge cards and all efforts to get the money from him proved unsuccessful.
He was later arrested by the police on December 15, 2017 and charged to court for stealing. In her ruling, the Magistrate, Mrs. O.J. Awope, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000, with two sureties in like sum.
The sureties, she said, should be gainfully employed with an evidence of two tears tax payment. The case was adjourned until January 29, 2018, for mention
Speaking on the matter, IE’s Head of Corporate Communication Felix Ofulue, cautioned payment collection agents to desist from unethical acts, warning that the company will take legal action against any case of payment fraud and ensure the full weight of the law is brought to bear on erring agents.
He further advised customers to avoid leaving monies with agents under the pretext of poor network, and also ensure that they collect their receipts as the receipts were crucial in resolving transaction or payment fraud cases “Customers need to always collect their receipts. This is what we recognize as proof of payment and not attaching used IE scratch cards, which is what many customers provide when laying complaints. Used scratch cards are not evidence of payments”, he concluded.
He also encouraged customers who had valid suspicions of agents and dealers to report to the nearest IE Serve location, making sure that necessary information that would be helpful in investigating the agent is provided.
