A branch manager at a private bank in Gujrat is reported to have left the country after account-holders lost up to Rs800 million they had given him to invest. Local sources close to those customers say the past week took him, his wife, and their children to the United States, and that he has since stayed silent toward both the branch and the people whose money he held. The bank’s management has opened an inquiry. The same sources say the loss might cross Rs1 billion while that inquiry continues.
How the money was taken
Over the last few years the manager won the trust of several account-holders and used their money in different businesses, local sources close to those customers say. He is said to have held signed cheque books for some of them. Those customers had reportedly let him invest the deposits outside the bank that employed him, and for a long time they made a large profit on those arrangements.
The main amounts moved before he left are said to belong to a government contractor linked to the National Highways Authority and the Punjab Highways Department. A spare-parts dealer in the electric-fan industry is also among the most affected. How the total divides between them and any other account-holders has not been stated.
What customers did next
Some of the people who lost money went to his house in River Garden Housing Society and tried to take his car and occupy the property. Guards stopped them. A separate group has asked the bank’s management to secure his return and the missing funds. Word of the affair has also led other customers to pull deposits from his branch and from further branches around Gujrat.
Where the inquiry stands
The inquiry inside the bank is the formal step taken so far. Contacted about the affair, a senior official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the federal body that investigates serious crime, said the agency had yet to see a complainant. In matters like this, he said, a bank’s own management is often the party that complains against the employee. The manager’s name and the bank’s name remain unpublished.
The figure of up to Rs800 million, and the local estimate that losses might pass Rs1 billion, still await a completed count. What happens next turns on the bank’s inquiry and on whether management or the account-holders take a complaint to the FIA.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Gujrat ke ek private bank ke manager ke baare mein kaha ja raha hai ke woh gahakon ke paise lekar mulk se nikal gaya. Local sources kehte hain ke woh pichle hafte biwi aur bachon ke sath America chala gaya. Nuksan ka andaza 80 crore rupay tak hai, yani Rs800 million, aur yeh ek arab se bhi zyada, yani Rs1 billion se zyada, ho sakta hai. Bank ne inquiry khol di hai, FIA ko abhi shikayat nahi mili, aur sheher ke doosre gahak bhi deposit nikalwa rahe hain.
