Lotus Bank has submitted a petition to the Federal High Court in Lagos against 45 financial institutions within the country.
This action aims to recover a total of N1,134,491,604.31,
which was lost due to a system malfunction that permitted customers without
debt instructions on their accounts to initiate transfers without any debits
occurring.
An affidavit, sworn by Gbenga Ojerinde, a fraud
investigation officer at Lotus Bank, was filed in court by Lagos attorney
Adebayo Oyagbola, who stated that he was authorized by the bank to present this
affidavit.
Ojerinde noted that on July 20, 2024, a system glitch
occurred following a rollback fix implemented on the bank's e-Bills Pay
platform to resolve a customer complaint.
He clarified that this fix resulted in unforeseen behavior,
allowing customers without debit instructions to make transfers that exceeded
their account balances to the financial institutions named in the court
documents.
He indicated that the technical issue impacted 718 customers
of the bank, allowing them to successfully withdraw and transfer funds from
their accounts without any corresponding debits.
Ojerinde clarified that the bank's initial financial
liability resulting from this incident amounted to approximately
N1,134,491,604.31, as detailed in the account schedule presented to the court.
He mentioned that Lotus Bank requested a court order to
impose restrictions on the affected accounts while awaiting the resolution of
the bank's motion on Notice dated July 22, 2024.
He emphasized that without an expedited hearing of the
bank's application, there is a significant risk that the funds fraudulently
transferred into the respective accounts held by the respondents' financial
institutions could be dissipated.
“Any postponement in addressing this application will have a
serious and irreversible impact on the bank's operations.
The bank is prepared to compensate for damages if this
application is deemed baseless,” he stated. As a result, the court has granted
the bank's request.