Court docket orders ultimate forfeiture of N81.1m linked to N2.5bn Sterling Bank fraud

Justice Yelim Bogoro of the federal excessive court docket in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the ultimate forfeiture of N81,108,143.8 to the federal authorities in favour of Sterling Bank Plc.

The order adopted a movement filed by the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) by Hannatu KofarNaisa, its counsel.Demographics

The court docket had earlier granted an interim forfeiture order on October 2, 2025, and directed that the choice be printed in a nationwide newspaper to permit any get together to point out trigger why the funds shouldn’t be completely forfeited.

Investigations by the EFCC revealed that the funds have been a part of greater than N2.5 billion allegedly stolen by some prospects of Sterling Bank as a result of a system glitch which enabled unauthorised transfers by the PAYATTITUDE World Ltd banking platform.

In keeping with an affidavit deposed to by EFCC investigator Maina Gapani Gyal, the fee acquired a petition from the financial institution on July 18, 2022, which triggered investigations that traced parts of the stolen funds to a number of accounts.

Gyal acknowledged within the affidavit that, “over N2,500,000,000 was stolen by some prospects of the financial institution and transformed to their very own private use in addition to to using some third-party beneficiaries.”

He added that the fraud occurred after a system glitch created a possibility for purchasers to switch funds regardless of having inadequate balances of their accounts.

The investigation additional recognized Sulaiman Kehinde Ojora as one of many main beneficiaries of the fraud.

In keeping with the affidavit, Ojora allegedly hid N43 million within the account of his affiliate, Taiwo Oluwaseyi Alawode, domiciled in Access Bank Plc, whereas N122.2 million was traced to the account of his spouse, Aminat Olatanwa Ojora, held with Sterling Bank.

The EFCC informed the court docket that the financial institution was unable to recuperate about N295.9 million from the fraud because the funds had already been withdrawn and transformed by the beneficiaries.

Nevertheless, the financial institution was capable of recuperate N81,108,143.8 from the affected accounts and a further N490,349,000 from its inside ledger.

KofarNaisa knowledgeable the court docket that the interim forfeiture order was printed in The Punch newspaper on February 19, 2026, however no objections have been filed by any get together.

After reviewing the appliance, Justice Bogoro dominated that the request was legitimate.

“Having gone by the movement and attachments, I discover the appliance meritorious and the identical is accordingly granted,” the decide held.

He consequently ordered that the recovered funds be lastly forfeited to the Federal Authorities in favour of Ste Arrestrling Financial institution Plc.