PalmPay Limited has come under renewed scrutiny after KudiWave Technologies Limited raised questions over repeated movements involving N750,369,439.04 from its account while the account was under a court imposed restriction.
KudiWave, a Nigerian fintech company, maintains that it had no knowledge of the transactions at the time they occurred and only discovered the extent of the movements after access to its account was restored.
Its records show that funds were moved from the account on July 11, 2026 and returned on the same day. Four days later, N750,369,439.04 left the account again under the narration “Judicial Adjustment.”
The July 15 transaction happened after KudiWave had already filed a case challenging the June 29 court order affecting its funds.
That challenge was filed on July 3 and came before Justice Ibrahim Ahmad Kala of the Federal High Court in Lagos on July 13. The matter was heard and adjourned for ruling before the disputed debit was recorded two days later.
KudiWave maintains that PalmPay had been served with its application before the July 15 transaction and did not file a counter affidavit challenging the motion.
“What happened on the account requires a proper explanation. This was money belonging to KudiWave and every transaction involving it should have a clear authority, a clear destination and a traceable beneficiary,” the company said.
The dispute can be traced to Motion No. FHC/L/MISC/470/2026, through which the Inspector General of Police obtained an ex parte order from the Federal High Court restricting accounts belonging to listed parties, including KudiWave, for 90 days while an investigation was ongoing.
PalmPay subsequently placed the restriction on KudiWave’s account.
KudiWave maintains that its attempts to obtain clear information about the reason for the restriction did not initially produce a meaningful explanation from PalmPay.
The company later discovered that the action was connected to officers of the Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi.
During efforts to resolve the matter, KudiWave’s Company Secretary, Barrister Prince Oko, reportedly met officers handling the investigation, including CSP Aliyu Hussaini Musa and Inspector Bolaji.
KudiWave said that a demand for N50 million was made to facilitate removal of the restriction.
The company said it rejected the demand.
Proceedings concerning KudiWave’s funds later continued under Suit No. FHC/L/CS/795/2026.
The matter came before Justice Kala on June 29. Counsel appeared for the Police Special Fraud Unit and PalmPay, while KudiWave was not represented.
The Police moved its application concerning funds described in the proceedings as suspected proceeds of crime and the court granted the application.
During the same proceedings, the Police sought to withdraw an earlier motion filed on April 20, 2026. The court struck out that earlier application.
KudiWave subsequently maintained that it had not been properly served with the process that resulted in the June 29 decision.
That complaint formed a major part of the application filed on July 3 seeking to have the order set aside and its execution stayed.
When Justice Kala delivered his ruling on July 22, the court granted KudiWave’s application and set aside, vacated and discharged the June 29 order.
The court further directed that the restriction on KudiWave’s account be removed.
The ruling examined the circumstances surrounding the purported service on KudiWave and questioned how leaving the court documents at a gate without sufficient identification of the company’s specific address could reasonably have brought the proceedings to its attention.
Justice Kala described the circumstances surrounding the service as “very curious.”
The court’s decision did not prevent the Police from commencing criminal proceedings against any person found culpable of an offence.
For KudiWave, however, the July 22 decision has added weight to its demand for a detailed explanation of what happened to its money before the ruling was delivered.
The company is particularly concerned about the destination of the N750,369,439.04 transferred on July 15.
KudiWave maintains that the June 29 court process contemplated payment into a designated Police Recovery Account linked to the Police Special Fraud Unit.
Its transaction records point to an Access Bank business account as the destination of the funds.
That difference has placed the beneficiary account at the heart of the dispute.
“We are not asking anyone to speculate about where the money went. The transaction records exist. The instruction behind the transfer exists. The beneficiary should therefore be identifiable and the entire movement should be capable of being explained,” KudiWave said.
The fintech company is seeking disclosure of the person who authorised the July 15 transaction, the beneficiary of the receiving account, the instruction used to process the payment and the basis for moving funds on July 11 while the account remained restricted.
It also wants a reconciliation of all activity recorded on the account throughout the restriction period.
KudiWave is considering further legal and regulatory action to recover the N750,369,439.04 and establish responsibility for the handling of the funds.
The dispute now turns on the transaction trail itself. KudiWave wants the records to show who instructed the movements, who received the N750.37 million and whether the destination reflected in its account matched the destination contained in the court process.
Those are the answers the company says are still outstanding.
