Staff hacks Lotus Bank system, diverts depositors’ ₦1.5 billion

Lotus Bank Limited is battling to recover the sum of ₦1.5 billion allegedly diverted by one of its officials from its system in 2024, The Witness reports.

According to an affidavit sworn to by Sunday Gbadebo, a fraud investigation officer with the bank and filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos, the lender said a detailed internal review conducted between January 2023 and May 2024 (extended to February 2026), uncovered alleged fraudulent activities linked to a staff member, Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed.

The matter has been adjourned until June 16, 2026.

The bank alleged that Mohammed, who worked in the Financial Control Department, abused his system access privileges and fraudulently allocated profits belonging to customers to several unauthorised accounts.

Lotus Bank stated that the diverted funds, totalling ₦1,552,130,998.85, were dissipated into different accounts across 22 financial institutions and three individuals.

According to the bank, “we discovered suspicious Mudarabah profits were paid into some customer accounts with the bank and upon conducting a comprehensive review from January 2023 to May 2024, we uncovered fraudulent activities by a staff member, Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed.

“Mudarabah deposits are defined as the net average balance for all types of Mudarabah deposits (savings or term deposits) standing in the bank’s books at the end of the month,” it said.

The lender added that the beneficiary accounts belonged to Mohammed’s wife, Khadijah Aliyu Shuaib, identified as a FINCO officer responsible for advising on profit distribution, as well as one Peter Daniel and Emmas Ocheja Odogwu.

The incident, which occurred in May 2024, has continued to linger as more defendants are being added to the case in a bid by the bank to recover the said sum allegedly diverted fraudulently, with the latest defendant added in February 2026.

Damilola Kusimo, a member of the Brand, Marketing and Communications department of Lotus Bank, did not respond to The Witness inquiries as of press time.

Lotus Bank commenced commercial banking operations in 2021, with its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria.