A Nigerian man, Olasele Anthony, has raised an alarm about how a commercial bank, Polaris Bank, froze his bank account by placing a Post No Debit (PND) on it in an attempt to allegedly steal millions of naira from him.
Narrating his ordeal to SaharaReporters, Anthony said he suspected foul play after his account with the bank became inactive and he was unable to carry out any transaction.
He said he contacted the bank and was told the bank was acting on a court order informing the bank that he was dead.
“On February 3, I saw my account was inactive/dormant. I contacted Polaris Bank, filled out every form required and been in weekly communication with agents/staff since then.
“Last week, when they ran out of excuses, they said I am legally a dead person. Polaris Bank is saying they have a court order from an Abuja court since March saying I am dead and a PND was placed on my account,” Anthony said.
He further said that all efforts to get a copy of the court order from the bank had not been successful.
According to him, the bank has refused to furnish him with the legal document.
Anthony added, “My requests here are simple: Polaris Bank should send me a copy of the court order from Abuja saying I am dead and a hold (PND) should be placed on my account so I can go to the same court and show proof of life or lift the inactive status on my account.
“I want to see my own death certificate that was used to obtain the court order but Polaris Bank staff are not availing me of any of these.”
He questioned the refusal of the bank to give him the court document saying, “How do I know which court to approach with Proof of Life without knowing where I was legally declared dead?”
Anthony confirmed to SaharaReporters that a legal complaint had been written and submitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Polaris Bank to demand full details of what happened and for the PND placed on his account to be lifted.
An email that was sent to the bank for a reaction to the claim made by the customer had yet to be replied to at the time of filing this report.
In reaction, the Bank stated that the report going round is Misleading information about Post-No-Debit(PND) on Customer’s Account
RE: PND on Customer’s Account —Clarifying the Issue
Contrary to social media reports, Polaris Bank did not declare the customer dead, but was in receipt of a court document stating so, and the Bank has an obligation to respect Court documents and also protect the customer.
The customer has been engaged and availed the documents while a process has been initiated to confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the documents from the appropriate institutions.
The primary concern of Polaris Bank is to always protect the customers’ funds first. We are working closely with all stakeholders, including security agencies and the customer, to expedite the process. Once the process is completed, the Bank will lift the PND, and the customer will access his funds.
Thank you.
Signed, Management
