Financial fraud: FIA seals bogus branch of a private bank

Six men held from the branch have been sent on a two-day physical remand

LAHORE: Six people caught from a bogus branch of a private bank in Sahiwal were sent on a two-day physical remand on Monday.

The branch was sealed by the Federal Investigation Agency team that conducted the raid. During the hearing, an FIA officer said the suspects were arrested after confirmation from Samba Bank Limited regional office that the bank was operating no branch in Sahiwal. He said Rashid Kamboh, a vice president of the regional office in Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, had confirmed this during a conversation.



The suspects were identified as Zaman Saeed, a marketing manager at the branch;Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa, a marketing officer; Shahid Rasool and Muhammad Bashir, customer relationship officers; and Syed Kashan.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an FIA official said the suspects had failed to produce a permission letter, from Samba Bank, authorising branch operations. He said they also did not have a licence from the State Bank of Pakistan. He said the main suspect, who had hired the six suspects, was yet to be arrested. He said during investigation the employees had identified him by three different names.

Asked if the employees were aware of the fraud, he said it had yet to be ascertained. He said they had denied any knowledge of the fraud. They told the team that they were hired as employees of the bank. They said the man who hired them had introduced himself as the branch manager.

The FIA official said 13 accounts had been opened at the branch since its opening a month ago.

He said brochures with car and house financing information, deposit slips, account opening forms, car financing applications forms, and stamps with Samba Bank logo were seized. The FIR was registered under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating),471 (using as genuine a forged document), 109 (punishment of abetment) and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd,   2015.