Access Bank seeks court order to freeze accounts over alleged N1.34bn fraud

Access Bank Plc has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an order to freeze accounts linked to beneficiaries of an alleged unauthorised transfer of N1.34 billion from four of its customers’ accounts.

The bank filed the application, marked Suit No. FHC/LAG/CS/1168/2026, against 71 financial institutions and payment service providers, asking the court to preserve the funds allegedly transferred through its Access SME App.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the application, the alleged fraud was discovered when the bank resumed operations on August 12, 2026.

Access Bank said its preliminary investigation showed that four customer accounts were affected, with a total of N1,340,425,393 allegedly transferred without authorisation.

The affected accounts include MIB TXN Bullion-Aba Branch, from which N590,975,889 was allegedly transferred; AllCO General Insurance Company Limited, involving N420,449,504; Apogee Engineering Limited, involving N136 million; and Sims Nigeria Limited, involving N193 million.

The bank said its internal investigation traced portions of the funds to accounts domiciled with Access Bank and the 71 respondent financial institutions.

“The Applicant’s internal investigation revealed that monies moved from the accounts without authorisation had been dissipated to several accounts domiciled with the Applicant and the 1st–71st Respondents,” the affidavit stated.

Access Bank also said it traced the Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) associated with the alleged beneficiaries and identified other accounts linked to the BVNs.

The lender is asking the court to direct the respondent banks, fintechs and payment service providers to place post-no-debit (PND) restrictions on accounts and BVNs linked to the allegedly diverted funds.

Under the proposed order, the restrictions would apply to the amount received by each beneficiary and remain in place pending the determination of the substantive application.

The bank is also seeking orders compelling the respondent institutions to disclose the amounts recovered from the affected accounts and provide details of the accounts identified in schedules attached to the application.

In addition, Access Bank wants the relevant BVNs watchlisted and the movement or dissipation of funds prevented until the entire N1.34 billion is recovered, to the extent received by each beneficiary.

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It further asked the court to direct the reversal of any recovered funds into an Access Bank account belonging to the applicant.

The bank told the court that it had immediately contacted the respondent institutions after discovering the alleged fraud, notifying them of the incident and requesting that the funds be preserved and relevant account details supplied.

According to the affidavit, some of the respondent institutions had already placed PND restrictions on certain accounts. However, Access Bank said a court order was required to sustain the restrictions.

“The 1st–71st Respondents have placed a PND on the accounts, but they need an order of this Honourable Court to sustain it,” the bank stated.

Access Bank argued that urgent judicial intervention was necessary to prevent further dissipation of the funds and preserve assets potentially connected to the alleged fraud.

“There is an urgent need for the order of this court to preserve the res and every other account in receipt of the funds to avoid further dissipation of the funds,” it said.

The bank further argued that it had a responsibility to ensure that funds transferred from customers’ accounts without authorisation were not withdrawn, moved or otherwise dissipated before recovery.

It also told the court that the application was necessary to combat cybercrime, which it said had the potential to undermine Nigeria’s economic and national interests.

“The grant of this application is also necessary to prevent cybercrime which has the capacity to undermine economic and national interest,” the affidavit stated.

Access Bank undertook to pay damages if the court subsequently determines that the order ought not to have been granted, while warning that delay could result in irreparable damage and financial losses.

The application was brought pursuant to Order 26 Rule 6 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the inherent jurisdiction of the court.

Access Bank is represented by lawyers from Country Hill Attorneys and Solicitors, including Ifeoma Esther Enyinnaya, Aishat Nurudeen and Faith Itua-Oboh.

The respondent institutions include major banks such as First Bank, Fidelity Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, GTBank, Keystone Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Union Bank, United Bank for Africa, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank, as well as numerous microfinance banks, fintechs and payment service providers, including OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, Paga and SmartCash.