Banking fraud on rise lately
KATHMANDU, JAN 05:
Incidences of increased banking frauds have increased the number of white collar criminals in prisons. The number of culprits nabbed by Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) involved in banking crimes have exceeded 30 in the last one-and-a-half years while a few are still at large.
Earlier, incidences of banking fraudsters used to be limited to fake loans or willful defaults of credit, but now, more bankers associated with financial institutions are involved in unlawful lending or misappropriation of funds.
Directors and executives of financial institutions are found to have been involved in issuing loans against fake collaterals, siphoning off funds from bank accounts, withdrawal of money from account holders or issuing good for payment cheques.
Liewise, following a large-scale withdrawal of money from various accounts through fraudulent debit cards, Himalayan Bank has suspended yesterday all transactions through debit cards issued by the bank for the time being.
The bank has issued a notice requesting cardholders to visit the nearest branch to obtain new PIN numbers as soon as possible. Preliminary investigation shows about Rs four million has been withdrawn but the amount could be more.
Earlier, in September, an employee of Himalayan Bank — Anil Bhakta Suwal — was found to be involved in fraud worth Rs 56.7 million. Suwal had siphoned the amount while settling MasterCard and Visa accounts receivable.
“As of late, incidences of bank employees and directors being involved in fraudulent activities have increased but so has the number of culprits being arrested for such cases,” said spokesperson for Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Bhaskar Mani Gyanwali.
Two weeks back, H&B Development Bank’s Kuleshwor branch manager —Niraj Nepal — was found to have been involved in large- scale issuance of good for payment cheques, which were pledged as collateral to obtain loans from financial institutions and financial cooperatives. The scam was worth about Rs 750 million.
This year, CIB under Nepal Police arrested the culprit involved in pushing Crystal Finance Company into crisis — Dibya Kumar Shrestha. Likewise, former executive chairman Rubi Joshi and former directors Sri Ram Prasad Lamichhane and Gaurishankar Chaudhary of Nepal Sri Lanka Merchant Banking and Finance were also arrested for their involvement in disbursing loans against banking norms and central bank’s directives. General Finance’s former general manager Raju Kumar Pradhan was also caught for misappropriating Rs 78.25 million from the finance.
“The number of arrested people for financial crimes has increased of late as CIB is gaining expertise in these cases,” pointed out SSP Uttam Kumar Karki of CIB.
Nepal Share Market and Finance, one of the oldest financial institutions in the country is also embroiled in controversy. Its CEO Yogendra Prasad Shrestha was arrested in October for embezzling Rs 2.61 billion.
Source: THT
