TAJ Bank Limited, suffered another system glitch in March which resulted in an unauthorized transfers totaling N957.4 million to various accounts held across 26 banks and fintech platforms. This incident occurred nearly a year after a previous glitch had led to the loss of N139.6 million from the bank’s system.
In an unexpected development, the bank has now withdrawn its legal action seeking the reversal of the unauthorized transfers from the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Previously, the court had declined TAJ Bank’s request for interim orders to freeze and restrict debits on the accounts held with the 26 financial institutions.
The bank according to court records formally discontinued its lawsuit on Monday, July 21. It had earlier argued that, in line with the CBN’s Regulatory Framework for BVN Operations and Watchlist (2017), the institutions involved were obligated to freeze, block, and return the N957,394,438.94 that had been traced to various customer accounts.
TAJ Bank maintained that the funds were unlawfully withdrawn and transferred from the Plaintiff’s accounts to the customers of the 1st to 26th Defendants as a result of a glitch in the Plaintiff’s server.
The case, filed on Wednesday, June 11, (with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1132/2025), alleged that the customers of the 26 institutions exploited the system error to deplete funds belonging to TAJ Bank’s clients.
The bank also contended that without the court’s approval of its applications to freeze, restrict, and reverse the funds, it would face ‘severe financial loss and irreparable hardship.’
At a hearing on Friday, June 27, TAJ Bank’s legal representative, Rilwanu Idris, Esq., urged the court to act, warning that without intervention, the money will go.
However, Justice Muhammad Umar denied the motion, stating, ‘The ex parte application is refused.’
The court subsequently adjourned the matter to Monday, July 21, for hearing.
On that day, TAJ Bank’s lawyer, T. O. Nworie, notified the court of the bank’s choice to withdraw the case.
Justice Umar accepted the Notice of Discontinuance dated Thursday, July 17, though the bank gave no reason for its decision to withdraw.
