Court Orders $7M Bank Vault Cash Forfeiture to FG

EFCC Gets What It Wanted

Justice Nwite called the EFCC’s application “meritorious” after looking over evidence that these mysterious funds were basically just hanging out in Providus Bank’s Ikoyi, Lagos branch vault under what you’d have to call questionable circumstances. The anti-corruption folks had already gotten an interim forfeiture order back on August 27, 2025, so this was really just the final step.

EFCC investigator Emmanuel Okeibunor laid it all out in an affidavit, the seven million dollars wasn’t credited to any customer account that anyone could identify. Bank officials allegedly just stashed the cash in their vault without bothering with proper banking protocols. Or regulatory requirements, for that matter.

“The funds were not credited to any known customer’s account but were kept in the bank’s vault under suspicious circumstances,” the court documents state. Pretty damning, when you think about it.

The Bank’s Compliance Problem

Here’s where things get interesting, or concerning, depending on how you look at it. Providus Bank apparently failed to file a mandatory suspicious transaction report with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). That’s required by anti-money laundering regulations, and it seems like this oversight may have been what really sealed the deal for the court’s permanent forfeiture decision.

When investigators started asking questions, bank staff claimed they were holding the money for Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited’s managing director. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Except when the EFCC contacted the company executive, she denied making any deposit.

Plot twist: the managing director then said the $7 million was actually a loan she’d gotten from Providus Bank that she hadn’t paid back yet. This kind of contradictory explanation probably didn’t help her case much with EFCC investigators, who were already suspicious about where this money really came from.

Legal Drama (Or Lack Thereof)

The court proceedings were surprisingly uneventful. Lawyer Gbenga Akande showed up initially representing some unnamed interested party who claimed rights to the money. But then Akande never bothered to reveal who his client actually was, which doesn’t exactly strengthen your legal position.

At Monday’s final hearing, another lawyer named Darlington Ozurumba appeared but didn’t even try to oppose the EFCC’s forfeiture application. When nobody’s willing to fight for the money, you have to wonder what that says about its legitimacy.

Part of a Bigger Picture?

This forfeiture might be just one piece of Nigeria’s broader push against unexplained wealth and dodgy financial transactions. The EFCC has been ramping up investigations into banks and financial institutions that could be enabling money laundering or ignoring reporting requirements.

Similar discoveries have been popping up across Nigeria, large cash amounts found in bank vaults with no proper documentation or clear ownership. It raises questions about how common this practice actually is and whether other banks might be sitting on similar time bombs.

What This Means for Banks

If you’re running a Nigerian bank right now, this case probably has your compliance team working overtime. The message seems pretty clear: inadequate due diligence and regulatory compliance can cost you big time.

The case also highlights something that should be obvious but apparently isn’t always, proper documentation for large cash transactions isn’t optional. When banks fail to file required suspicious activity reports with the NFIU, they’re essentially asking for trouble.