Benin: an intern diverts 53 million through fake checks in a microfinance
A former intern of a mutual fund is currently being tried by the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET).
He is accused of embezzling nearly 53 million CFA francs through 44 falsified checks, according to revelations reported by Banouto media. The accused, who appeared on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, before the special jurisdiction, is facing serious charges: false certificates, theft of cash, and money laundering.
According to the statements of the mutual fund’s treasurer, the defendant allegedly took advantage of his access to internal documents to produce false checks. These checks, endorsed in the name of fictitious or real clients, allowed him to withdraw amounts ranging from 500,000 to 2,000,000 FCFA from a partner bank, between 2021 and 2024.
According to the prosecution, he reproduced the official signatures of the president, the treasurer, and the endorser on the falsified checks. Out of the 44 checks used, 41 bore different names, a technique apparently designed to escape vigilance.
At the stand, the accused admitted the facts. He explained that he used the mutual fund’s checkbooks for personal purposes, presenting the bank tellers with an ID of the supposed endorser, along with his own. Upon questioning, he declared owning a building site and a vehicle.
The tellers who handled the operations were heard during the trial. All claim not to have detected any anomalies on the signatures appearing on the checks. They specify that according to internal procedures, only the ID of the beneficiary is required to validate the encashment. Furthermore, the defendant, a regular at the establishment, didn’t seem like an imposter to the staff.
Mutual fund and bank blame each other
Before the Court, a deep disagreement has arisen between the victim mutual fund and the partner bank. The former denounces a glaring lack of vigilance on the part of the tellers; the latter, through the voice of lawyer Marc Zinzindohoué, points instead to a failure in internal management.
The lawyer highlighted the absence of financial reports from the mutual fund for the period 2021–2023, despite regular receipt of bank statements. According to him, such accounting negligence could have delayed the detection of fraudulent operations. The outcome of this ongoing trial will establish the responsibilities of the two financial institutions.
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