May 14, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 8, 1429

LAHORE, May 13: The Federal Investigation Agency claimed on Tuesday to have arrested a former employee of a bank for committing a Rs10 million fraud.

Anti-Cyber Crime Unit assistant director Ziaul Islam told Dawn that Raza Mahmood, in connivance with some other former employees of NIB Bank, fraudulently withdrew over Rs10 million from the bank.

Giving details about the modus operandi of the accused, Mr Islam said they used to collect cheques from customers who had applied for loans. The bank would issue five cheques against each application and it was on the discretion of the applicant to withdraw the sanctioned amount in as many (five) transactions.

He said the accused visited such loanees’ residences and asked them either to withdraw the amount at once or hand them over the cheques if they were not interested. He said that the accused trapped some 50 customers.

On Tuesday, Mr Islam said that an FIA team caught Raza Mahmood red-handed while withdrawing Rs250,000 through such a cheque. Raids were underway to arrest his accomplices, he said. He said that banks must devise a system to check such frauds.