Three ex-employees of Globus Bank are in web of allegedly hacking into customers’ accounts and stealing N3.5 billion.
Consequently, the Federal High Court in Abuja froze approximately N1.2 billion held in Fidelity Bank, GT Bank, Access Bank, and Wema Bank.
The accounts frozen belong to Haril Global Solutions Ltd, Abdullahi Abubakar Sadiq, Onobun Oluwaseun Olumide, and Oluwaseun Adeniyi Afolabi.
Globus Bank was first licensed as a deposit bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2019 and commenced business same year.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) requested the freeze to prevent any further transactions or withdrawals from these accounts.
The incident came to light when Globus Bank raised the alarm in 2023, suspecting some of their former ICT department staffers of hacking into the bank’s systems.
The bank approached a court in Lagos for freezing orders on the accounts associated with the suspects and reported the case to the EFCC.
The EFCC received an intelligence report detailing how the ex-staff members, Babatunde Idris Olayiwola, Chinedu Ihuma, and Igwe George Benedict Obinna, allegedly hacked the bank’s systems and transferred over N3.5 billion into various accounts.
The EFCC’s Litigation Clerk, Samson Oloje, stated in an affidavit that these individuals used their knowledge of the bank’s ICT systems to carry out the fraud.
“One Babatunde Idris Olayiwola, a former staff of Globus who is an ICT expert, created all the software platforms the bank uses. He introduced Chinedu Ihuma to oversee the ICT software operational platforms when he was about to exit the bank,” Oloje said.
He added that Ihuma then introduced Igwe George Benedict Obinna to the bank to continue overseeing the platforms.
Oloje detailed how the fraud was perpetrated using Obinna’s login details, which were shared with Olayiwola and Ihuma. The stolen funds were transferred to accounts linked to Haril Global Solutions Ltd and other affiliated accounts across various banks.
The EFCC’s investigation, led by Deputy Superintendent of Correctional AbdulKareem Awesu, confirmed the fraud and identified the suspects.
The court documents revealed that the computers and phone of Igwe George Benedict Obinna were sent for forensic analysis to determine the extent of the illegal activities.
In EFCC’s affidavit deposed to by its Litigation Clerk, Samson Oloje, the commission received an intelligence report about the activities of ex-staffers of Globus Bank who allegedly hacked into the bank’s systems and stole N3,500,000, 000 of customers’ money.
Upon invitation of Globus Bank, one Monday Edward, Head of Internal Audit/Chief Inspector of the bank, came and volunteered a statement confirming that the bank system was hacked.
He stated in his affidavit, “That one Babatunde Idris Olayiwola a former staff of Globus who is an ICT expert, who created all the software platforms the bank is using in its daily operational business introduced one Chinedu lhuma to Globus Bank when the former was about to exit the bank.
“That Chinedu Ihuma, a former staff of Globus Bank was also an ICT expert introduced to the Bank by Babatunde Olayiwole to oversee the ICT software operational platforms created by Babatunde Olayiwola for the bank.
‘‘He also introduced one Igwe George Benedict Obinna to the bank to take over and oversee the ICT software operational platforms when the former was about to exit the bank.
“That investigation reveals that Babatunde Idris Olayiwola, Chinedu Inuma and Igwe George Benedict Obinna hacked into the computer systems of Globus Bank and they transferred monies over three billion, five hundred million Naira (N3,500,000,000) from the account of the bank into various account belonging to Haril Global Solutions Ltd and affiliate different bank accounts domicile in various banks across the country.
“That further investigation reveals that the fraud was perpetrated through the login details of Igwe George Benedict Obinna which he shared with the duo of Babatunde Idris Olayiwola and Chinedu Ihuma.”
Oloje stated that sequel to the findings of the investigation all bank accounts related to the fraud were requested via investigation activities letters to banks concerned wherein evidence of receipt of funds was established.
The EFCC staffer also informed the court that Globus Bank management earlier approached the Federal High Court, Lagos to place a Post No Debit (PND) order on the bank accounts where the monies had been diverted, in order to prevent the depletion of the funds in the accounts.
“During the course of the investigation, the prime suspect, Igwe George Benedict Obinna was arrested and interviewed and made a statement to the effect of his dealing with the perpetuation of the fraud,” the EFCC stated.
The EFCC asked the court to grant its request as not granting it would jeopardize the ongoing investigation into the intelligence report received by the commission.
Recall that on January 23, 2024, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered freezing of the accounts in dispute and adjourned for the EFCC to provide reports of the final outcome of its investigation.
On December 21, 2023, Globus Bank, obtained an order from the Federal High Court, Lagos freezing the bank accounts associated with the suspects.
Meanwhile, Globus Bank had previously obtained a freezing order from the Federal High Court in Lagos on December 21, 2023.
The EFCC’s investigation found that the two main suspects, Idris Olayiwola and Chinedu Ihuma, are believed to be in the United Kingdom.
The suspects have filed a case against the EFCC and Globus Bank at the High Court of Justice in Abuja, seeking to overturn the legal actions taken against them in suit no: CV/1841/24.
