•How I lost N65m to ‘Jaiz Bank Investment’ — Customer

Hashim Faruk, a resident of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, has alleged that he lost N65 million to an investment product known as Mudarabah at the Jos branch of Jaiz Bank.

Mudarabah is an investment arrangement in which customers deposit money with a bank for investment and receive profits at the end of an agreed period.

Scores of aggrieved customers of Jaiz Bank on Monday protested at the bank’s main branch in Jos over alleged fraudulent transactions involving millions of naira.

The protesters, who gathered at the bank’s premises with placards, called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Federal Government to intervene and help them recover their money.

Faruk, one of the protesters, said the dispute dated back to 2022, when several customers allegedly lost money through transactions involving a bank employee.

He said the bank reported the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Plateau State Police Command, which investigated the allegations.

According to him, the police investigation identified a bank employee, Habiba Abdulrahman, as the person who allegedly defrauded the customers.

He said the police subsequently recommended that the bank refund the affected customers, but the financial institution had yet to comply.

Speaking to Daily Trust, Faruk said he invested N65 million for himself, his mother, wife and children in the Mudarabah product.

He explained that the investment allowed customers to deposit money with the bank for business purposes in return for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly profits.

“I kept adding money to my Jaiz Bank accounts for better investment until 2025, when the bank promised to increase our profits following its upgrade.

“This made me increase the amount invested from N50 million to N65 million across all the investment accounts,” he said.

Faruk also said that after the bank identified Habiba as the alleged culprit, she was arrested and some of the money was recovered through the CID.

However, he said the bank had yet to refund his money despite the police investigation and the recovery.

He appealed to security and anti-graft agencies to intervene and ensure that the affected customers recovered their funds.

He said he was struggling to feed his family, pay his children’s school fees and buy medicines for his mother and children.

Other customers also participated in Monday’s protest, alleging that money had been withdrawn from their accounts without their consent.

While some said they had invested their money in the Mudarabah product, others said they had only deposited money in their accounts and did not subscribe to any investment scheme.

They alleged that when they complained to the bank, they were informed that a staff member had transferred their money to several bank accounts.

The customers insisted that the transactions were carried out within the banking hall using documents approved by the bank. They said they had dealt only with Jaiz Bank and its staff and expected the bank to take responsibility.

Rose Dayo, one of the affected customers, said she opened an account and invested her money in a fixed deposit scheme but later discovered that the account had been emptied.

She said she completed all the necessary procedures at the bank and was issued a certificate confirming the investment.

“I went into the bank and met a lady I did not know, who gave me a form to fill. I completed everything through the bank, and things went smoothly.

“At a point, I asked if they offered fixed deposit services. She said yes, and I told her I wanted to keep my money in a fixed deposit account.

“I opened the account, and she gave me a certificate, which I still have. It was when I went to withdraw some money that the bank told me there was nothing in the account,” she said.

Another protester, Zainab Mahmud Dalladi, said money she kept for an orphan in her husband’s account was allegedly withdrawn without their consent.

She said she deposited the money in her husband’s account because he was a customer of the bank.

“By the time I came to withdraw the money, there was nothing in the account. I called my husband, who asked me to report the matter to the management.

“The management told me that one Habiba, who worked with them, had withdrawn the money,” she said.

Transactions were with former staff, not bank — Jaiz Bank

Responding to the allegations, the bank’s lawyer, Barrister Munir Barau Abdullahi, who was mandated by the management to speak on its behalf, said the affected customers transacted with a former staff member and not directly with the bank.

He said the customers allegedly paid their money into different accounts instead of their personal accounts with Jaiz Bank.

“They dealt with a former staff member of Jaiz Bank, but unknown to them, she was not depositing their money into their respective accounts with the bank.

“That is the bottom line of the whole issue. If you follow due process and deposit your money, it is safe.

“Some of them carried out the transactions after banking hours and even at her residence. The matter is still in court, and I am surprised to see them protesting,” he said.

Mr Barau said the money in dispute was not paid into the individuals’ Jaiz Bank’s accounts but into the personal accounts of Habiba and her husband domiciled in the bank.

He explained that the couple collected money from customers under investment arrangements and paid them monthly returns ranging from N50,000 to N100,000, depending on the amounts invested.

According to him, the arrangement continued until the couple allegedly stopped making payments, prompting complaints from the affected customers.

Barau cited the case of a customer who allegedly invested N10 million with a promise to receive N400,000 monthly, but whose payments were subsequently discontinued.

He maintained that the bank was not a party to the investment arrangements and that there was no official documentation establishing that the money was paid into its accounts.

The legal adviser further disclosed that, during the police investigation, detectives visited Mrs Abdulrahman’s residence, where they allegedly recovered several bank deposit tellers.

He said Habiba and her husband had been charged with fraud and criminal conspiracy in connection with the transactions. (Daily Trust, excluding headline)