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The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered an additional 30-day freezing of 818 bank accounts being investigated for allegedly receiving “proceeds of crime” resulting from a N10bn cyberattack on the Hope Payment Service Bank platform.

The order, which was requested by the Inspector General of Police, was granted by

Justice James Omotosho on Monday, relying on a motion ex parte filed by the police, which was confirmed by our correspondent.

In the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1358/2024, filed against Jarnes Akagwu Isaac, Akwubo Gosent, Shirsha Paul Terver, and 815 others, including several banks, the IGP’s legal team submitted that the accounts through which the defendants were alleged to have obtained proceeds of crime were subject to investigation, thus necessitating the freeze.

In an affidavit deposed to a staff member of the Nigeria Police Force, Force Headquarters Abuja, Muhammed Idris, it was revealed that a petition was filed in the office of the IGP by the Managing Director/Chief Financial Officer on behalf of Hope Bank, reporting a case of fraud, criminal diversion, conversion of funds, and conspiracy against one of the defendants.

Idris stated that police investigation showed that the PSB lost N10bn to the cyberattack.

Part of the affidavit reads, “That as a result of the fraudulent activities and cyberattacks on the banking platform of the nominal complainant, they lost the sum of N10,000,000,000.00 (10 billion naira), which has now been transferred/diverted to various accounts of the 1st to 818th defendants/respondents in an attempt to flitter away with the proceeds of crime.

“That investigation revealed that the said funds were laundered into the following accounts of the 1st to 818th defendants/respondents. That the total sum of funds moved from the petitioner’s financial institution is estimated at N10,000,000,000.”

The IGP further explained that it had been able to submit the earlier freezing order (which lasted for 14 days) to various financial institutions involved, but some had yet to be submitted to others.

In July, it was reported that Hope PSB had thwarted a cyberattack on its banking platform and recovered billions of naira in the intended attack.