N750m Dispute: Kudiwave Demands Forensic Tracing and Police Investigation
Kudiwave Technologies Limited has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, over the alleged transfer and continued withholding of N750 million from its PalmPay account, asking for an independent investigation into the handling of the funds by the Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The company, in a petition dated September 14, 2026, also challenged allegations linking the funds to an alleged “round-tripping” transaction.
Kudiwave, through its solicitor, Tony Eseigbe & Co., alleged that the SFU linked the money in its account to funds purportedly originating from United Bank for Africa Plc and subsequently moving through other companies.
The company, however, disputed the allegation, maintaining that it received the funds from Nexall Technologies Limited as part of a legitimate commercial transaction and provided corresponding digital-asset value.
How the N750m Transaction Started
According to the petition, Kredilink founder, Opeyemi Dairo, was introduced to Master Solution Concept Limited on March 5, 2026, after the company allegedly presented itself as a merchant dealing with Nomba Bank and requiring fiat-to-digital-asset settlement services.
Kudiwave said a Know-Your-Business process was subsequently completed and a test transaction valued at $3,556.18 was conducted before further transactions took place.
The petition also quoted Nexall Technologies’ Operations Lead and co-founder, Ayandoye Pelumi Olawale, as saying that Kudiwave requested liquidity from Nexall on March 28, 2026, in exchange for USDT.
According to the company, Nexall sourced naira from several independent counterparties, including N200 million received from Kredilink through a Nom Bank MFB account.
Kudiwave argued that the N200 million from Kredilink represented only one of several inflows into Nexall’s account on the same day.
It identified other inflows as N199.8 million from Fintrix Technologies Limited, N282.4 million from Sturdi-Steel Nigeria Limited and N101,697,888 from GreatRex Global Concepts.
The identified inflows, according to the petition, amounted to N783,897,888.
Kudiwave said Nexall subsequently transferred N250 million in three separate transactions, totalling N750 million, to its PalmPay account.
The company questioned the basis for treating the entire N750 million as proceeds from an alleged transaction involving UBA, particularly when, according to its account, only N100 million from Kredilink’s N200 million transaction had been flagged.
Kudiwave Challenges Link to UBA Dispute
The company also drew the attention of the IGP to a separate Federal High Court case, United Bank for Africa Plc v. Master Solution Concept Limited & 21 Ors, marked FHC/L/CS/680/2026.
According to Kudiwave, an order issued on April 1, 2026, in the case concerned an alleged erroneous transfer of N713,913,076.32.
The company stressed that neither Nexall nor Kudiwave was joined as a defendant in the UBA suit.
It further argued that the N713.9 million referenced in the case was different from the N750 million transferred to Kudiwave’s PalmPay account.
Kudiwave therefore questioned the basis for connecting the two transactions and urged the police to trace each individual transaction rather than treat the entire balance as proceeds of an alleged fraudulent transaction.
Dispute Over Police Recovery Account
The petition also raised questions over the movement of the funds to what Kudiwave described as a Police Recovery Account despite a subsequent Federal High Court order which, according to the company, set aside an earlier directive and ordered the removal of restrictions on its account.
Kudiwave said PalmPay, in a July 28, 2026 letter to the SFU, informed the police that Justice Kala of the Federal High Court had, on July 22, set aside the June 29 orders directing the reversal of funds from Kudiwave’s account and ordered the removal of restrictions.
According to the petition, PalmPay subsequently requested the return of N750,369,439.04 from the Police Recovery Account to Kudiwave’s PalmPay account.
The company is now asking the IGP to order a forensic examination of the transactions and obtain the bank statements of the companies involved.
It also wants an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of its representatives and clarification of the legal basis for the continued withholding of the funds.
Lawyer Alleges Funds Were Moved Before Court Ruling
Counsel to Kudiwave, Prince Kalu, said the company decided to formally petition the IGP because of what he described as inconsistencies in the accounts surrounding the transactions and movement of the funds.
Kalu alleged that an earlier petition submitted to the police had been referred to the other parties for a response, but that the response portrayed the funds as money recycled from Master Solution to Kredilink, then to Nexall and eventually to Kudiwave.
He said the transaction records available to Kudiwave did not support that explanation.
“If you say N100m went to A, you cannot jump to C and say because the money is now in C, take the whole money in C. That is not how tracing of funds works,” Kalu said.
The lawyer also alleged that a former Commissioner of Police attached to the SFU collected the dollar equivalent of N5 million from him and promised to lift the post-no-debit restriction placed on Kudiwave’s account.
The allegation has not been independently established.
Kalu said Kudiwave subsequently expected the restriction to be lifted but was informed by PalmPay that an order had been obtained directing the movement of the funds to a police account.
According to him, the June 29 order was served on the parties on July 1, prompting Kudiwave to file an application on July 3 seeking a stay of execution and an order setting aside the directive.
He said the application was argued on July 13, with the court fixing July 22 for its ruling.
Kalu alleged that despite the pending ruling, the N750 million was moved on July 15.
He further alleged that the funds were not transferred to the Police Exhibit Account specified in the June 29 order but to a PalmPay business account with Access Bank.
“The order of June 29 said, ‘Move this money from the account of Kudiwave to Police Exhibit Account,’ with their account number. And what they did on July 15 was to move the money to their own business account in Access Bank,” he alleged.
Kalu said Kudiwave discovered that the funds were no longer in its account after the July 22 ruling, when the company attempted to access the account following the court’s directive removing the restrictions.
“Only for us to serve them and say, let us even try the account. We saw nothing again in the account. The money is gone,” he said.
He maintained that the July 22 decision required the funds to be returned to Kudiwave and disputed the argument that an appeal or application for a stay could justify retaining the money.
Kudiwave Demands Independent Investigation
Kalu called for an independent investigation into the transaction and movement of the funds, arguing that investigators should establish the source and destination of each payment rather than treat the entire N750 million as proceeds of fraud.
“We are asking for an independent investigation because you cannot investigate without charging anybody and then become more interested in collecting the whole money in a company’s account,” he said.
PalmPay Seeks Court Order Against Kudiwave
Meanwhile, PalmPay Limited has approached the Lagos State High Court seeking an order restraining Kudiwave from making or circulating statements concerning the transfer of the funds.
In a Motion on Notice dated September 4, 2026, PalmPay asked the court to restrain Kudiwave, its servants, agents, privies and persons acting on its behalf from issuing, publishing, sponsoring or circulating statements relating to its transfer of N750,369,439.04 from Kudiwave’s account to the designated Police Recovery Account.
The application was filed pursuant to Order 42 Rule 8 and Order 43 Rule 1 of the Lagos State High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019, as well as the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
PalmPay is represented by Dr Babatunde Ajibade, SAN, alongside Dr Kolawole Mayomi, Emmanuel Bassey, Ahmad Dasuki and Ayanfeoluwa Aina of S.P.A. Ajibade & Co.
PalmPay had earlier disputed Kudiwave’s position that the June 29 order had been set aside before the funds were transferred.
The company maintained that the order remained subsisting when the transfer was made.
The dispute is now before the courts, while Kudiwave’s latest petition is asking the Inspector-General of Police to subject the transaction and the handling of the N750 million to an independent investigation
