The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has widened its probe of Providus Bank and its chief executive officer, Walter Akpani, over an undisclosed $7 million cash deposit linked to suspicious financial dealings.
Recall that KeepLoss earlier reported how operatives of the anti-graft agency stormed the bank’s head office in Victoria Island, Lagos, arresting some officials following a tip-off from a whistleblower who alerted the EFCC about unusual cash transactions at the bank’s vaults.
The funds were reportedly deposited in raw cash on March 26 and 27, 2025, rather than credited into any customer account, a red flag for money laundering.
Acting on the intelligence, EFCC operatives swooped on the bank unannounced, carted away the suspicious funds, and detained some employees for interrogation. During questioning, bank staff disclosed that the money belonged to embattled businesswoman, Aisha Achimugu, the CEO of Ocean Gate Petroleum.
Achimugu, however, denied ownership of the funds when invited by the EFCC, claiming instead that she only took a $7 million loan from the bank which she had yet to repay.
Unable to reconcile the conflicting claims, the EFCC published notices in national dailies inviting anyone with legitimate ownership of the cash to come forward. No claimant appeared, and the funds were subsequently transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for safekeeping.
Sources at the EFCC said that the agency is particularly concerned about why the bank failed to flag the transaction and report it as required under the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and the guidelines of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The Nigeria Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, requires banks to report suspicious transactions, cash deposits above N5 million for individuals and N10 million for corporate bodies, and international transfers exceeding US$10,000 to the NFIU, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Act also mandates financial institutions to conduct due diligence on their customers and business relationships to verify identities and the nature of transactions.
The source further revealed that the probe has now been widened, with the EFCC grilling Walter Akpani and four other top executives, including Olugbile Erinwusi, Chief Risk Officer, and Theresa Ekong, Chief Compliance Officer, as investigators intensify efforts to unravel the network behind the suspicious deposits.
“We are tracing the origin of the fund and its intended use,” the source said. “The fact that such huge sums were physically lodged in cash into the bank’s vaults without being reported to the relevant authorities raises serious questions about compliance and intent. This is not just an oversight; it points to a systemic fraudulent scheme that we are determined to uncover and address.”
On Monday, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted the EFCC’s motion for final forfeiture, ordering that the $7 million be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government as suspected proceeds of crime. EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, told the court that due process had been followed since the interim forfeiture order was granted on August 27.
“My lord, since August 27, when your lordship granted the order, to date, we have not received any opposition to our application. Hence, we filed a motion for final forfeiture,” Oyedepo said.
The development has heightened scrutiny of Providus Bank’s operations and raised fresh questions about compliance with regulatory and anti-money laundering standards within Nigeria’s financial sector.
This is even more worrisome as SunTrust Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Halima Buba, alongside the bank’s Chief Compliance Officer, Innocent Mbagwu, is also facing allegations of laundering $12 million linked to Achimugu, suggesting a wider pattern of regulatory breaches across multiple banks.
At the ongoing trial before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, a bureau de change operator testified that he received $12 million in raw cash between March 10 and 24, 2025, facilitated through SunTrust’s Abuja and Lagos branches on behalf of Achimugu.
The BDC operator further revealed that none of the money went through his account, and that the transactions were carried out entirely outside the formal banking process.
The witness also disclosed that Achimugu had previously given him another $1.8 million for conversion into naira.
