A 24-year-old warehouse manager, Akokhia Joseph has been arraigned by the police before a Magistrate Court sitting at Ebute-Meta for allegedly stealing beverages estimated to be worth N2.2 million which belongs to a Vivian Osian, the warehouse owner.
According to Punch, the manager had been ordered to give out the goods by the company’s management.
He proceeded to divert some of the goods and replaced the diverted goods with empty cartons.
He was also alleged to have deleted stock data from the computers in an attempt to cover up.
It was gathered that goods have turned up missing several times before but the manager always returned the monetary value of the goods claiming to have found and sold them.
An auditor was reportedly called in to analyse records after Akokhia’s employer had found some inconsistencies in the imputed data on the computer and the missing warehouse goods.
The manager was arraigned in court on Monday, June 29, 2015 on a one count stealing charge. The police told the court that Akokhia had stolen from the warehouse between September 1, 2014 and January 12, 2015.
The charge read, “That you, Akokhia Joseph, between September 1, 2014, and January 12, 2015, at Ojuelegba Road, Surulere, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal Nestle products valued at N2,264,597, property of one Vivian Osian, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 285(7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge. His defence attorney, Saka Bello applied for bail on his behalf on liberal terms. The presiding Magistrate, O. A. Komolafe granted him bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till July 27, 2015.
He said, “Both sureties must have the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency ID card. One of the sureties must be a relative, while the other must be a level 10 civil servant working with the Lagos State Government.”
