The federal high court in Lagos has ordered 71 banks to place debit restrictions on accounts used to warehouse the N1.3 billion that was fraudulently taken away from some accounts domiciled in Access Bank.
Akintayo Aluko, the judge, on Friday, gave the order following an ex parte application filed by Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya, counsel to Access Bank.
In an ex parte application filed on August 13, Access Bank told the court that on August 12, it noticed a fraud incident involving some accounts, adding that the scheme was perpetrated through its internet banking application known as “Access SME App”.
Access Bank said the sum of N1,340,425,393 was moved from customers’ accounts without authorisation to accounts domiciled with the bank and 71 other financial institutions.
“Upon resumption on 12th August 2026, the Applicant noticed a fraud incident which occurred on some accounts domiciled with the Applicant and was perpetrated through one of the Applicant’s internet banking application known as Access SME App,” Access Bank said in the court documents.
“It was discovered upon the Applicant’s internal investigation that monies totaling N1,340,425,393.00 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Naira) were moved from its customers’ accounts without authorization to several accounts domiciled with the Applicant and the 1st to 71st Respondents as listed in Exhibit Access Bank 1.”
THE RELIEFS SOUGHT
Access Bank sought four reliefs from the court, including an order seeking that the 71 banks whose accounts benefitted from the N1.3 billion should file an affidavit of disclosure.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing/mandating the 1st Applicant (Access Bank) and the 1st to 71st Respondents to place a post-no-debit (PND) on all the bank accounts and BVN listed in the Schedule marked Exhibit Access 1 & 2 respectively and any other accounts that benefitted from the unauthorized funds of N1,340,425,393.00 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Naira Only), to the extent of the sums received by the beneficiaries, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice,” the reliefs sought reads.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing/mandating the 1st – 71st Respondents to file and serve its Affidavit of disclosure on the accounts as listed in the Schedule marked Exhibit Access 1 & Access 2, stating the amounts salvaged in the accounts being accounts that benefited from the sum of N1,340,425,393.00 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Naira Only).
“AN ORDER of this Honourable Court mandating/directing the Applicant and 1st – 71st Respondents to watchlist the BVNs of accounts listed in Exhibit Access 1 and Exhibit Access 2, and any other accounts that benefitted/received the unauthorized funds until the total sum of N1,340,425,393.00 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty Million, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Naira) is fully recovered only to the extent received by each of the beneficiaries.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing/mandating the Applicant and the 1st to 71st Respondents to reverse the salvaged funds in the accounts listed and iny accounts linked to their BVNs, as contained in Exhibit Access 1 and Exhibit Access 2 respectively, to the Applicant’s account number 0703060877 domiciled with the 1st Applicant to the extent received by each of the beneficiaries.”
The respondents are Accion Microfinance Bank Ltd, Addosser Microfinance Bank Ltd, Alternative Bank Ltd, Alpha Morgan Bank Ltd, Bank 78 Microfinance Bank Ltd, Blueridge Microfinance Bank Ltd, Bosak Microfinance Bank Ltd, Branch International Financial Services Ltd, Carbon Microfinance Bank Ltd, Changan Rts Microfinance Bank Ltd, Cintrust Microfinance Bank Ltd, Dash Microfinance Bank Ltd, Ecobank Ltd, Etranzact International Plc, Fairmoney Microfinance Bank Ltd, Fewchore Finance Bank Ltd, FHA Mortgage Bank Ltd, Fidelity Bank Plc, First Bank Ltd, First City Monument Bank Ltd, Globus Bank Ltd, Gomoney Ltd, Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd, Indulge Microfinance Bank Ltd, Infinity Microfinance Bank Ltd, and Jaiz Bank Ltd.
Others are Kegow Ltd, Keystone Bank Ltd, Kongapay Ltd, Kuda Microfinance Bank Ltd, LAPO Microfinance Bank Ltd, Lotus Bank Ltd, Momo Payment Service Bank Ltd Ltd, Μονιeρoint Microfinance Bank Ltd, Net Microfinance Bank Ltd, New Edge Finance Ltd, Nirsal Microfinance Bank Ltd, Nombank Microfinance Bank Ltd, Nownow Microfinance Bank Ltd, Opay Digital Services Ltd, Optimus Bank Ltd, Paga, Palmpay Ltd, Parallex Bank Ltd, Polaris Bank Ltd, Premium Trust Bank Ltd, Providusunity Bank Ltd, Renmoney Microfinance Bank Ltd, Safe Haven Microfinance Bank Ltd, Signature Bank Ltd, Smartcash Payment Service Bank Ltd, Source Microfinance Bank Ltd, Sparkle Microfinance Bank Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, Sterling Bank Plc, Summit Bank Ltd, Suntrust Bank Ltd, Supreme Microfinance Bank Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Taj Bank Ltd, Tatum Bank Ltd, Tenn Microfinance Bank Ltd, Titan Trust Bank Ltd, Union Bank Plc, United Bank For Africa Plc, Vfd Microfinance Bank Ltd, Wema Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, 9payment Service Bank Ltd, and 9japay Microfinance Bank Ltd
Aluko granted reliefs 1 to 3, while ruling that relief 4 cannot be granted because the request appears to be like a final order.
The judge adjourned the matter to August 31, 2026.
