Sterling Bank officials caught in $122 million forgery & scandal

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Documents exclusively obtained from official sources reveal that the bank has been involved in fraudulent accounting, mismanagement of contract proceeds, money laundering, unauthorized fund transfers, opening of fake bank accounts in the name of MIDEN Systems without authorization, and forgery of bank documents in clear violation of banking regulations.

Shocking revelations have emerged regarding the indictment of top officials of Nigerian Bank, Sterling Bank PLC, for alleged Money laundering, illegal deductions, forgery and fraudulent mismanagement of over $122 Million dollars belonging to a customer, MIDEN Systems Ltd following Police investigations.

Under the agreement, the Company contributed $7.3 million (30%) of vessel cost, while the Bank provided the sum of $17 Million dollars ($17,079,000.00) amounting to 70% as loan (via Letters of Credit) for the purchase of the vessels in Malaysia and Singapore. The Repayment plan was structured such that 70% of all contract proceeds from Shell Petroleum Development Company would be transferred, as Loan Repayment, to a Debt Servicing Repayment Accounts (“DSRA”) domiciled with Sterling Bank, while 30% would be reserved for the Company’s operational needs. The tenor of the loan was a 60 months duration (with 6 months moratorium) and billed to terminate by September 2017.

A Police Investigative Report of the activities of Sterling Bank dated 14 January 2025, and which is now pending before a Joint committee of the National Assembly, uncovered a series of grave banking malpractices committed by Sterling Bank between 2016 and 2024 regarding this loan transaction.

According to the report, the bank has been misappropriating contract proceeds without rendering proper account statements to the customer. Several Unauthorized Payments have been made from customer account to unknown persons, including disclosed and undisclosed Sterling Bank solicitors.

The police also discovered the Creation of multiple fake accounts by the bank, including an unusual 20-digit account in the name of the Company without authorization.

The Bank unlawfully consolidated the Customer Company’s account with the account of a different and distinct company, Chasewood Nigeria Limited, in order to fraudulently impose dubious and illegal debt obligations on the Company.

It was found that Sterling Bank deliberately denied the Customer access to its 30% share of proceeds, thereby crippling the Company’s operations.

This matter has now escalated to public hearings before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, where the Nigeria Police Force has submitted a report indicting Sterling Bank for alleged money laundering and mishandling of Miden Systems’ accounts.

To avoid further investigations and embarrassment by the House of Reps, the Bank hurriedly approached the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, on 5th of February 2025, to seek a restraining order on House of Representatives from further probe or investigation of Sterling Bank Limited and the Group Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Financial Holdings Company, Yemi Odubiyi pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.

At the resumed hearing of the case on April 30th 2025, the Court couldn’t hear the matter but went on a prolonged adjournment raising concerns on the process.

Section 37(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2015 explicitly criminalizes unauthorized debits by financial institutions.

Evidently, Sterling Bank’s actions, as outlined in the Police report, clearly violate this provision and Sections 18; 20, 24(1); 25 of the BOFIA, which prohibit fraudulent banking practices.