BY VIVIAN MICHAEL
Miden Systems Limited, an Engineering, Maritime, and Consultancy services firm, has sued Sterling Bank Limited and its management staff over alleged conspiracy, fraudulent practices, forgery, and criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of funds. The company maintains corporate accounts with the bank.
In a case before Magistrate Njideka I. Duru of the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, the complainant alleged that the bank, through its Chief Executive Officer and other defendants, committed the offenses. The case, slated for mention on Monday, could not proceed due to the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference. The matter has been adjourned to September 10 for mention.
The 29-page complaint alleges that the defendants used the company’s name to open various spurious accounts to siphon over $200,000,000 of its funds. According to the company’s counsel, Louis M. Alozie SAN, the funds were “moved and misappropriated by the defendants with huge and massive spurious debits.”
The charge further stated that the bank continuously denied the company access to its statements of account despite consistent demands. The complaint reads: “Without informing the Complainant or making any demands from them, the Defendants proceeded and put all the accounts of the Complainant in lien, thus denying it access to its hard-earned funds.”
The company claims the bank held onto dollar components for months, trading with them instead of using them to settle loan obligations. In one instance, the company’s principal remitted revenues in dollars when the exchange rate was about N150/$1. The bank reportedly stockpiled over N2 billion and later sold the funds at a higher exchange rate after the naira depreciated to about N500/$1, making the original value of the USD almost worthless.
The complainant stated that the bank refused to issue cheque books or allow internet banking, allegedly to conceal their “shady deals.” Miden Systems claims it had exited all loan obligations to Sterling Bank in July 2017, but three months later, the bank booked an unsolicited loan of about $30 million to its account. The company alleges that this loan was fraudulently booked on a single day, with forged signatures of the Board of Directors, and disbursed to an unknown party identified as “AA.”
The lawsuit also cites an instance where the bank booked a $3 million loan to Chasewood Limited, a stand-alone company, and then heinously transferred the loan to Miden Systems’ account, claiming the companies were sisters.
The complaint further states that the bank, without Miden Systems’ knowledge, opened accounts in its name at an office address unknown to the company, in a massive identity theft scheme that included forging signatures.
After all efforts to resolve the issues failed, Miden Systems petitioned the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, which referred the matter to the Inspector General of Police. The police investigation report, completed in February 2025, allegedly indicted the defendants.
