Federal court orders 54 banks to refund N9.3b hackers stole fraudulently transferred from unnamed old generation bank
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A landmark ruling by a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered 54 banks to immediately refund a total N9,329,322,870 fraudulently transferred by hackers from an unnamed old generation bank.
Judge Deinde Dipeolu delivered that judgment followed an ex parte motion filed by the plaintiff bank and directed the other banks to place a Post No Debit restriction on all accounts that received the stolen funds and to begin the immediate refund of all available funds to the originating bank.
The plaintiff bank reported that on 23 March 2023, a breach in its core banking system resulted in unauthorised debits from multiple customer accounts.
The stolen funds – more than N9.3 billion – were then dispersed across accounts in 54 financial institutions.
The bank disclosed that upon detection of the fraud, it promptly alerted the banks involved and began tracking the disbursements.
It said investigation showed that the funds were transferred in multiple tranches from its vault into primary accounts and rerouted to other accounts held by secondary and tertiary beneficiaries, per reporting by The PUNCH.
The court ruled that
- The affected banks must provide details of the implicated accounts, including balances and amounts transferred.
- They are to effect immediate return of all recoverable funds to the plaintiff bank.
- They are also to share comprehensive customer data related to the transactions, including names and destination accounts.
- Restrictions are to be maintained on all accounts that received any portion of the funds until full recovery is made, limited to the amount each received.
- Clarified that the order applies strictly to erroneously transferred funds and does not infringe on other customer deposits.
“For the avoidance of doubt and for clarity, the order is only in respect of funds erroneously transferred and sums salvaged,” the court said.
It insisted that the stolen funds “belong to the plaintiff and not the customers of the respondent banks,” affirming the court’s authority to direct full restitution.
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