Missing money: Controversy trails death of banker in car crash

25 year old banker Benjamin Idim died on December 14th in a fatal car crash after he lost control and crashed his KIA car at Utako in Abuja while returning from a visit to a friend at midnight.

Ben, who worked with Diamond Bank, Gwarimpa, Abuja, was said to have had about N2million cash in the trunk of his car at the time of the accident, but the bulk of the money has yet to be recovered, according to his family. His body and wrecked car were evacuated from the scene of the accident by the police, who said they only recovered N800, 000. The late banker's family, who has since been buried, insists there was more money in the car. Continue...

Benjamin Idim's father Ita Idim said:

“We went to the police at Utako and they handed over two phones and about N800,000, which they said was recovered from the car. Later we learnt that the money in the car was more than the amount the police gave us. The bank also confirmed that he had more than that amount with him. If the police can hand over N800,000, you can be sure he had more than that in the car. The Nigerian Police Force can’t give all the money they recovered.”

A Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT said the family needs to understand that the police was not the first responders at the scene of the accident.

“Are they sure the police were the first to arrive at the scene? Besides, saving the boy’s life would be their priority, nobody would be checking the boot of the car to know whether he had money there or the amount of money in the car,” the officer stated