Miden Systems Limited has dragged Sterling Bank Limited and its management staff to court over alleged conspiracy, fraudulent practices, forgery, criminal breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds.
The company, which provides engineering, maritime, and consultancy services, maintains a corporate account with the bank. The case was filed before Magistrate Njideka Duru of the Chief Magistrate’s Court, sitting in Wuse Zone II, Abuja.
The complainant alleged that the bank through its Chief Executive Officer and Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc and four other defendants committed the alleged offences.
The matter, which was slated for mention on Monday, could not proceed due to the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Enugu State. The case was subsequently adjourned until Sept. 10 for mention.
In a 29-page complaint, the company alleged that the defendants used its name to open several spurious accounts through which funds domiciled with the bank were siphoned, amounting to over 200 million dollars.
Through its counsel, Mr Louis Alozie (SAN), the firm alleged that, funds were moved and misappropriated by the defendants with reckless abandon, with huge and massive spurious debits to its account.
The charge further stated that, in line with standard banking practices and applicable laws, the company consistently demanded statements of its account but was denied access to its funds.
The complaint also said that without informing the complainant or making any demands from them, the defendants proceeded to place liens on all the complainant’s accounts, thus denying it access to its hard-earned funds.
The complainant further contended that it was the responsibility of the bank to communicate any transactions or decisions concerning its account before taking any action.
It maintained that dollar remittances paid to it were withheld and traded with by the defendants for months, rather than being used to settle loan obligations.
“In one instance, Miden Systems Limited’s principal remitted revenues in dollars to its account while the exchange rate was about N150/one dollar, and the market rate was about N198/one dollar.
“The bank stockpiled over N2 billion in Miden’s account after taking its spread.” The company said that unfortunately, during that period, the naira depreciated to about N500/one dollar.
“Upon pressure from Miden, the bank sold the stockpiled N2 billion at a high naira exchange rate, thereby making the original value of the dollar almost worthless.”
The complainant further stated that the defendants refused to issue it cheque books or allow it access to the internet banking platform.
It alleged that this was deliberately done to conceal shady transactions on its accounts, effectively preventing it from knowing its account balance and any outstanding loan obligations to date.
The company said it had successfully exited all loan obligations to Sterling Bank in July 2017. “About three months later, the bank booked an unsolicited loan of about 30 million dollars into Miden Systems Limited’s account.
“The most egregious part of this fraud is that on the date of booking the loan, the bank issued an offer letter for the 30 million dollars to Miden Systems Limited, and the purported Miden Systems Limited Board of Directors allegedly authorised the acceptance of the loan on that same date, with the bank’s board of directors also approving the disbursement the same day.
“On the following day, the bank disbursed over one million dollars to one ‘AA’; two days later, over 29 million dollars was disbursed to the same ‘AA’ this scheme continued unabated.
“Miden contends that it never applied for the 30 million dollar loan, never accepted it, and the signatures used for its acceptance were not those of the company’s Board of Directors.” In another instance, the bank allegedly booked a three million dollars loan to another company, Chasewood Limited.
“Upon discovery, Chasewood Limited reportedly confronted the bank, stating it never applied for any such loan.”
According to the complaint, the bank subsequently transferred the loan to Miden Systems Limited’s account, claiming Chasewood Limited was a sister company.
However, Miden Systems Limited maintained that Chasewood Limited is a stand-alone entity with no shared ownership.
The complainant also stated it was shocked to receive documents concerning a loan facility allegedly granted by Afrexim Bank to the defendants, involving identity theft and forged signatures of persons unknown to Miden Systems Limited.
The company said the loan was never authorised by it. It further alleged that the defendants, without its knowledge or consent, opened accounts in its name using the office address at No. 10 Goba Close, Wuse II, Abuja, an address it said was unknown to it.
The company stated that, after exhausting efforts to gain access to its accounts and resolve all outstanding issues, it petitioned the defendants before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
Our correspondent gathered that, after finding merit in the petition, the House Committee referred the matter to the Inspector General of Police at the Nigeria Police Headquarters, Abuja.
Following investigations, the police reportedly issued an investigation report in February 2025, in which the defendants were allegedly indicted.
