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LOTUS Bank Limited is grappling with another significant financial setback, having been defrauded of N336,993,863.35 by an employee. This incident follows a recent loss of N1,134,491,604.31 just two months prior.
According to an affidavit filed by Gbenga Ojerinde, a fraud investigation officer at LOTUS Bank, and submitted by Lagos lawyer Efe Eze-Iyamu, the bank uncovered irregular Mudarabah profits credited to customer accounts. The fraud was identified during a comprehensive audit covering January 2023 to May 2024.
The investigation implicated Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed, a Financial Control Department staff member. Mohammed allegedly abused his system privileges to redirect profits to three accounts: one belonging to his wife, Khadijah Aliyu Shuaib, a FINCON Officer responsible for profit distribution, and two others under Peter Daniel and Emmanuel Ocheja Odogwu. The total embezzled amount reached N336,993,863.35.
Further scrutiny revealed that funds from Peter Daniel’s account were transferred to accounts at two different banks, while funds from Khadijah Aliyu Shuaibu’s account were largely diverted to Cresco Oil & Gas Limited, a company jointly owned by Mohammed, his wife, and Peter Daniel.
In response, LOTUS Bank informed the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), which has instructed banks to freeze the implicated accounts and attempt to recover the funds. Compliance from some banks has been partial, with others yet to act.
LOTUS Bank has requested a court order for post-no-debit restrictions on the accounts to prevent further dissipation of the funds. The bank has also pledged to cover any potential liabilities if the court deems the application unjustified.
Judge Chukwujekwu Aneke has mandated that the 28 implicated financial institutions enforce post-no-debit restrictions on the relevant accounts, in line with the fraudulent sums received.
SOURCE: pmnewsnigeria
