Criminal networking: Embezzlement on-the-go

Employees of a cellular company accused of funnelling out over Rs210 million.

ISLAMABAD:

Embezzlement of more than Rs210 million by top and middle management officials in the finance department of a cellular services giant was reported to police on Friday.

The discrepancy in the accounts that led to the discovery of the embezzlement was discovered in November 2010, but the management reportedly hesitated in getting the police involved as it was hoping to use the threat of police action as a bargaining chip to force the embezzlers into returning the money.

The management of the telecom company hesitated over actually letting the suspects get arrested as they were hoping to use the threat of police action as a bargaining chip to force the return of the embezzled funds, sources said.

The police official investigating the case said that they were trying to obtain the exact details of the suspects’ whereabouts. He added that they could not be found at the addresses given on their National Identity Cards.

“We are looking for them and hope to nab them in a day or two,” said the police official. Responding to a question, he said that the company’s management was not influencing the case in any way.

Other sources in the police told The Express Tribune that they believed the management was playing carrot and stick with the suspects, by pressurizing the police to have them arrested while simultaneously offering the alleged embezzlers a compromise if they agree to return the embezzled money.

Six officials from top, middle and lower management of the finance department, Usman Qayyum, Yasir Ali, Nadeem Afzal, Pervaiz Akhtar, Ali Nawaz and Muhammad Jamshed, were nominated in three different fraud cases.

Police said three lower management officials were based in franchises of the company in F-11, I-8 and Blue Area, while Qayyum and Ali were based in the head office of the company, where they were responsible for crediting money into company’s funds.

An investigation officer added that they were told by the company that the amount of embezzled money and the number of suspects might go up as they had decided to carry out a comprehensive internal inquiry.

The complainant, a senior manager in the company, told the police that the embezzlement was first discovered after an audit in November, 2010. Following the detection of fraud, Chartered Accountant Akhtar Aziz was hired to perform a thorough audit of funds.

The auditor’s investigations revealed that the suspects had been transferring huge sums of money into their personal accounts and those of their friends and family while crediting them in the company’s records.

“Yasir and Qayyum received money from the franchises and other accounts and made transfers into their personal accounts,” said a police official.

Police said the bulk of the embezzled amount was kept by the suspects in accounts which have not yet been identified, but the matter is “being looked into by the company’s internal auditors.”

An official spokesperson for the company initially refused to comment on the issue, citing its status as a legal matter. Later he added, “FIRs were registered and obviously the police are doing their work to arrest the suspects.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2011.