Lotus Bank has accused a staff member in its Financial Control Department of orchestrating a ₦1,552,130,998.85 fraud by diverting customer-owned Mudarabah profits into unauthorised accounts, a Federal High Court affidavit filed in Lagos shows.
The allegation was contained in an affidavit sworn by Sunday Gbadebo, a bank fraud investigator, who said an internal review conducted by the lender between January 2023 and February 2026 uncovered the scheme. According to the affidavit, the bank discovered suspicious profit payments during a comprehensive review covering January 2023 to May 2024.
Gbadebo alleged that the accused, identified as Abdulkarim Arome Mohammed, abused his system access to manipulate profit payment records and effect illicit transfers. The funds, described by the bank as customer-owned Mudarabah profits — defined as the net average balance for all types of Mudarabah deposits standing in the bank’s books at month-end — were allegedly siphoned in May 2024.
Once diverted, the money was quickly dispersed into multiple accounts held across 22 financial institutions and into accounts belonging to three individuals, the affidavit said. Named beneficiaries include Mohammed’s wife, Khadijah Aliyu Shuaib, described as a FINCO officer responsible for advising on profit distribution, as well as one Peter Daniel and Emmas Ocheja Odogwu.
Lotus Bank said it has continued to add defendants to the suit to recover the diverted sum, with the latest party included in February 2026. Proceedings in the Federal High Court have been adjourned to June 16, 2026.
Damilola Kusimo of Lotus Bank’s Brand, Marketing and Communications department did not respond to enquiries at the time of publication.
