Toba Owojaiye ReportingÂ
Globus Bank Limited, a recent addition to the Nigerian banking sector, led by Chairman Peter Amangbo and CEO Elias Igbinakenzua, is currently making headlines for the wrong reasons. The bank has filed an application with a Lagos high court, seeking an order to recover a total of N962,019,843.35 that was fraudulently transferred electronically from its vault to accounts held in eight commercial banks.
This N962 million is part of a larger sum of N1,755,376,156.34 that was transferred from the bank between Monday, June 6th, and Saturday, June 11th, 2022. Fortunately, the bank has already managed to recover N817,998,969.85 from the accounts of the fraudsters. However, this incident has raised concerns among financial analysts who question the bank’s security system, suggesting it may be weak, poor, or below industry standards.
In an affidavit presented by the bank’s legal officer, Kosisochukwu Ngene, Globus Bank stated that the fraudsters exploited a system glitch in its USSD application during the specified period to carry out numerous fraudulent and unauthorized electronic transfers totaling N1,755,376,156.34. The bank identified 709 of its customers who were involved in the fraudulent transfers to accounts held in the eight commercial banks.
Upon discovering the glitch, Globus Bank immediately notified all the banks involved and requested that the beneficiary accounts be frozen, in accordance with Central Bank of Nigeria regulations, to prevent the dissipation of the fraudulently transferred funds. Subsequently, the bank obtained an order from the Yaba Magistrate Court, directing the banks to freeze and reverse the amounts fraudulently transferred into the various accounts.
While some of the banks were able to recover and return a certain sum, totaling N817,998,969.85, there is still an outstanding amount of N962,019,843.35 that has not been returned to Globus Bank. The bank now seeks an order from the high court to compel the other banks to reverse and remit the salvaged funds. The Excel sheet containing the names of the banks involved, the total amount transferred fraudulently, the amount salvaged and returned, and the outstanding amount has been filed as evidence.
Globus Bank also requests the court’s order to compel the eight banks to release all account information pertaining to the destination accounts and the beneficiaries of the transferred funds. The bank seeks any further order that the court deems appropriate in the circumstances of the case.