Miden Systems Limited and its Managing Director, Dr Innocent Brendan Usoro, have denied violating a court ruling regarding its business relationship with Sterling Bank Plc.

According to the firm and its promoter, an investigation into the matter by the Police did not establish the allegations levelled against them.

The development arose after The Guardian’s attention was drawn to recent developments in the dispute between Sterling Bank Plc and Miden Systems Limited. On January 25, 2025, The Guardian published an article titled “Sterling Bank petitions IGP over court ruling violations”, wherein we reported a petition by Sterling Bank Plc to the Inspector-General of Police.

In the said petition, Sterling Bank accused Miden Systems Limited and its Managing Director, Dr Innocent Brendan Usoro, of using the National Assembly and the Police Force CID to harass the bank, divert loan funds, commit asset misappropriation, and restructure the company’s shareholding with intent to evade compliance with a binding court-ordered debt settlement, among others.

Expressing concerns over the publication in question, the duo, through their Solicitors, T.J. Aondo (SAN) & Co., described the allegations against them as false, prejudicial and misleading.  According to the lawyers, Sterling Bank initiated the alternative dispute resolution process by petitioning the Inspector-General of Police. They added that the petition was investigated by the IGP Monitoring Unit, Force Headquarters, Abuja, which eventually found nothing incriminating against their clients.

“The investigation did not establish the allegations against our clients as criminal acts. Rather, the investigation identified, amongst other matters, a communication gap between the parties and concerns regarding the absence of relevant statements of account required for reconciliation.”

“The Police ultimately recommended that the Central Bank of Nigeria constitute a committee to audit the disputed accounts to determine the true state of the financial transactions between the parties.”

The Investigation Report dated September 8, 2025, entitled “Re: Application for Certified True Copy of Police Investigation Reports in a Case of Sterling Bank Plc V. Dr Brendan Innocent Usoro” made available to The Guardian neither indicted the Company nor its Managing Director.

On the contrary, the Investigating Team found, inter alia, “That the inability of Sterling Bank Plc to provide statement of accounts of Miden Systems Limited domiciled with the Bank either to the Police or to the Suspect Dr Innocent Usoro who is the MD/CEO of Miden Systems Limited; for the purpose of reconciling the accounts leaves much to be desired.”

In addition, the Investigation Team confirmed a Customer-Banker relationship between the parties, but observed an attempt to obfuscate the transaction records by preventing a transparent audit of Miden Systems Limited’s account to determine the total sum of money generated from the utilisation of the company’s vessels.

Further to the foregoing, The Guardian wishes to clarify that the subject-matter publication was made in utmost good faith, without any malicious intent against Miden Systems Limited and Dr Innocent Brendan Usoro.

Importantly, nothing in the publication suggests that the allegations were facts, as they were properly qualified as allegations in line with journalism ethics.

However, before the publication was made, all attempts to reach Dr Usoro were futile. Similarly, no reference was made to the above-mentioned Investigation Report because it was not in existence at the material time.

The Police had not issued any official statement as the matter was still under investigation. Whilst the publication is devoid of any malice, any inconvenience it might have caused Miden Systems Limited and Dr Usoro is unintended and regretted.