Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed, a staff member in the Financial Control Department of Lotus Bank Limited, has inflicted a significant financial loss on the bank, defrauding it of N336,993,863.35 just two months after the institution lost 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 uncovered suspicious Mudarabah profits credited to customer accounts.
A comprehensive review, covering January 2023 to May 2024, revealed fraudulent activities allegedly carried out by Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed.
Mohammed is accused of abusing 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.
An investigation into Peter Daniel’s account showed that funds were transferred to his accounts at two banks. Funds from Khadijah Aliyu Shuaib’s account were primarily 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 yet to respond.
Lotus Bank has requested the court to impose a post-no-debit restriction on the accounts involved, preventing further dissipation of funds.
The bank has also pledged to indemnify the financial institutions against any liability if the court finds the application 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.
