Ex-bank employee behind fake receipts in MPs' names, suspects FIA

Agency officials say no money was actually deposited in SME Bank

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency suspects a ‘psychologically disturbed’ ex-employee of SME Bank was behind the fake receipts worth millions issued in some leading parliamentarians’ names.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan got a surprise on Wednesday when Rs100 million was deposited into bank accounts they do not maintain.



Speaking to The Express Tribune on Thursday, FIA sources said the agency, after conducting an initial inquiry, suspects a former SME Bank employee issued fake deposit slips in the parliamentarians’ names in a bid to defame them.

“The ex-employee appears to have been a psychopath. There seem to be no other grounds for the move,” a source said.



FIA sources said no actual transaction took place and no money was actually deposited. “The affected politicians have no accounts at the concerned bank as well,” a source said. “FIA is in contact with SME Bank. Our inquiry will be complete in three or four days.”

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) too, in a statement on Thursday, said the receipts the notable lawmakers received were fake and were issued by ‘unscrupulous elements’ to malign them.



“Initial results reveal that no such TDRs [Term Deposit Receipts] have been issued by the SME Bank nor any of these parliamentarians have any deposit account with the said bank,” SBP said. “It appears that the TDRs have been issued using counterfeit or stolen TDR forms from the bank by some unscrupulous elements to malign the parliamentarians.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2017.