A Federal High Court in Lagos has directed 54 banks to return a total of N9.3 billion that was fraudulently transferred from an unnamed old-generation bank by hackers.
The judgment, issued by Justice Deinde Dipeolu on April 15, 2025, came after the affected bank filed an ex parte motion under suit number FHC/L/CS/629/2025.
According to the court, all banks involved must restrict debits on accounts that received the stolen funds and begin the immediate return of all traceable amounts.
The plaintiff reported that on March 23, 2025, hackers breached its core banking system and made unauthorized withdrawals from several customer accounts.
The stolen funds were subsequently distributed across accounts in 54 financial institutions.
The bank said it quickly alerted the affected institutions and started tracking the movement of the funds.
Investigators found that the money was first sent to primary accounts, then rerouted to secondary and tertiary beneficiaries.
The court ordered the banks to provide full details of all implicated accounts, including balances and any amounts already moved.
All recoverable funds are to be returned to the plaintiff bank, and a Post No Debit restriction is to remain on all related accounts until full recovery is made—limited to the amounts each account received.
Justice Dipeolu emphasized that the ruling applies only to the stolen funds and does not affect other deposits in the accounts.
The funds, the court said, “belong to the plaintiff and not the customers of the respondent banks,” affirming its authority to mandate full restitution.
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