Miden Systems Limited, an Abuja-based firm, has dragged Sterling Bank Limited and some of its management staff before the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, over allegations of conspiracy, forgery, fraud, criminal breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds running into over $200m.
The case, presided over by Magistrate Njideka Duru, was slated for hearing on Monday but was stalled due to the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Conference in Enugu.
The matter was subsequently adjourned to September 10 for mention.
In a 29-page charge filed through its counsel, Louis Alozie, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Miden Systems accused the bank, its Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, and four others of using the company’s name to illegally open accounts and siphon its domiciled funds.
The complainant alleged that the defendants diverted foreign currency revenues meant for loan settlements for their personal gain, carried out massive unauthorized debits on its account, and deliberately denied it access to account statements despite repeated requests.
According to Miden, the bank unlawfully placed a lien on all its accounts without notice, shut it out of internet banking, and even refused to issue cheque books, all in a bid to conceal suspicious transactions.
One instance cited in the charge revealed that when Miden remitted dollar revenues at a period when the exchange rate stood at N150/$1 (with the market rate at N198/$1), the bank allegedly stockpiled over N2bn in its account.
By the time the naira had depreciated to nearly N500/$1, the bank reportedly sold the funds at the higher rate, rendering the original value of the dollars “almost worthless.”
The company also accused the bank of fabricating a N30m loan facility in its name barely three months after it had cleared all outstanding loans in 2017. It contended that the loan was unsolicited, unauthorized, and approved with forged signatures purportedly belonging to its Board of Directors.
Within days of booking the loan, the bank allegedly disbursed over N30m to a single beneficiary identified only as “AA.”
Similarly, Miden claimed that a separate $3m loan was fraudulently booked to another firm, Chasewood Limited, which later denied ever applying for such.
The facility was then shifted to Miden’s account on the pretext that both companies were “sister companies” — a claim Miden insists is false since the two are independent entities with no ownership ties.
In another revelation, Miden said it discovered forged documentation linked to a loan facility allegedly granted to the defendants by Afrexim Bank, involving what it described as “massive identity theft.”
The company also accused the bank of opening additional accounts in its name using a fictitious office address in Wuse 2, Abuja, unknown to it.
The company noted that after several failed attempts to resolve the matter directly with the bank, it petitioned the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
Following its review, the committee referred the allegations to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). An investigation was carried out, and in February 2025, the police reportedly indicted the defendants in their report.
