ISLAMABAD: A foreign bank disclosed before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday that an employee was found involved in fraudulent actions, while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said its forensic report had established the involvement of bank staff in the embezzlement of Rs410 million from the accounts of certain overseas Pakistanis.

The additional director of FIA and the chief executive officer of the foreign bank testified before the Senate panel, chaired by Saleem H. Mandviwalla. The committee asked the FIA to submit its final report within 21 days after the registration of an FIR.

The FIA officer told the meeting that a forensic report had been received on Feb 7 and an examination of the record had established that cheques had been issued with fake signatures. He said three persons had been identified and an FIR would be registered within a week, while action would be taken against those involved.

The committee was following up on a complaint by a number of overseas Pakistanis, claiming that Rs410m went missing from their accounts in Karachi.

The complainants said they had transferred the amount from a Dubai-based bank to the foreign bank in Karachi in 2017. However, when they went to the bank to withdraw the sum last year, staff replied that the amount had already been withdrawn and their account stood closed. The complainants alleged that bank officials had withdrawn their money by committing forgery while they were abroad.

The bank’s CEO told the committee that it had completed an internal investigation of the complicated case and the manager involved had been terminated from service.

In his written report, the bank’s chief said that as part of its internal audits in 2022 and the complaint against the branch manager in question, the bank had initiated an inquiry against him when no complaint was forthcoming from the customers.

“The matter was investigated, and it was found that there were certain discrepancies in the accounts of the three complainants… [the manager] claimed that the discrepant transactions were conducted with the permission of the said customers”.

He said the complainants were contacted and it was found that they also had a personal business relationship with the manager in question. At the same time, the CEO also confirmed that Rs20.5m was recovered from the former manager on account of discrepant transactions and handed over to the complainants, and a final settlement agreement was signed.

In November last year, the complainants filed a Rs410m claim, but had not yet provided full details despite repeated attempts. “Recently, [two of the complainants] have provided written letters containing details of disputed transactions, however, the other five complainants are yet to provide details of disputed transactions in their respective accounts”, the CEO said.

Separately, the Senate committee unanimously passed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 (Amendment of Article 84), making it compulsory for the federal government to acquire prior approval from the National Assembly for supplementary grants.

However, the committee recommended the Finance Division draft a ‘list of events’ to help the government cope with unforeseen circumstances like epidemics or natural disasters.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024