LOTUS Bank Limited faces another financial blow, having been defrauded of N336,993,863.35 by one of its employees, just two months after losing N1,134,491,604.31.
In an affidavit sworn by Gbenga Ojerinde, a fraud
investigation officer at the bank, and filed by Lagos lawyer Efe Eze-Iyamu, it
was revealed that LOTUS Bank discovered suspicious Mudarabah profits paid to
customer accounts.
A comprehensive review from January 2023 to May 2024 uncovered fraudulent activities by Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed, a staff member in the Financial Control Department.
Mohammed allegedly exploited his system privileges to
allocate profits to three undeserving accounts: one belonging to his wife,
Khadijah Aliyu Shuaib (a FINCON Officer responsible for profit distribution),
and two others belonging to Peter Daniel and Emmanuel Ocheja Odogwu. The total
fraudulent amount was N336,993,863.35.
A review of Peter Daniel’s account showed that funds
were transferred to his personal accounts at two banks. Funds from Khadijah
Aliyu Shuaibu’s account were largely moved to Cresco Oil & Gas Limited, a
company owned and managed by Mohammed, his wife, and Peter Daniel.
Upon discovering the fraud, LOTUS Bank alerted the
Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), which then notified the
respondent banks to freeze the accounts and reverse the funds. Some banks have
partially complied, while others have not.
LOTUS Bank has requested the court to place a
post-no-debit restriction on the accounts involved to prevent further
dissipation of the funds.
The bank has also pledged to indemnify the financial
institutions against any liability if the court finds the application was
unjustified.
Judge Chukwujekwu Aneke has ordered the 28 listed
financial institutions to impose post-no-debit restrictions on the accounts of
the beneficiaries to the extent of the fraudulent amounts received.
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