ISLAMABAD: A retired government official has claimed that Rs3 million was withdrawn fraudulently from his bank account a few days ago.

Dr Yousuf Khilji, who served as chief scientist in the Khan Research Labora­tories, has urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to intervene in the matter to recover his whole life’s saving.

In his application to the chief justice, he said that someone had withdrawn Rs3m from his account in Model Town Humak branch of the Bank Islami Pakistan Limited (BILP), Islamabad, within 17 hours.

Dr Khilji said he received a phone call from an unknown number on Oct 25. The caller introduced himself as an official of BILP and sought “my name, account number and date of birth”, he said, adding that the caller told him that the information was required for sending him a code.

After providing the information to the caller, Dr Khilji said, he brought the matter into the notice of the bank manager who, after asking some questions, assured him that there was nothing to be worry about.

“The next day, on Oct 26, I went to the bank and inquired about the balance in my account. I was shocked to know that an amount of about Rs3m had been fraudulently withdrawn from my account,” he said in his application, adding that he came to know that 2,015 withdrawals were made in about 17 hours.

“Such abnormal pattern of transactions is evidence of the alarming situation,” he said, adding that astonishingly, the bank officers and staff did not notice the fraud.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2018