President Dr Arif Alvi Upholds Mohtasib’s Dicisions and order Banks Al Baraka Ltd and Habib Ltd to refund Pkr 14 million to the victims of their bank’s fraud.
President Dr. Arif Alvi upheld 2 different decisions of Banking Mohtasib ordering Al Baraka Bank Ltd and Habib Bank Ltd to pay 9.1M to Mrs. Zahida Naseem and Rs 5M to Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Bajwa, respectively, who had been swindled out of their money by the management of the banks.
The President rejected the appeals of both the banks against the decisions of the Banking Mohtasib. He regretted that the victims of fraud, including an Overseas Pakistani, suffered a lot at the hands of the banks’ management and no relief was provided to them.
He urged the public to avail the services of the Banking Mohtasib to seek relief in fraud cases as well as against the maladministration of bank officials/officers. According to details of both the cases, Mrs Zahida Naseem (complainant) opened her with Al Baraka Bank and applied for Term Deposit for an amount of Rs 10.7 million for one year after signing her cheque and TDR Application Form.
The then Branch Manager, Mr Omer Ikram, provided her fake and fabricated Account Statement and TDR Certificates on bank’s Letter Head.
However, she came to know that the account statement & TDR certificates were fake & fabricated. It was later revealed that Mr. Ikram had allegedly committed fraud of huge amount of Rs 125M & was an expert in making & providing tampered & fake bank statements to his clients.
In a similar case, Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Bajwa, an Overseas Pakistani, was maintaining a PLS Saving Account with Habib Bank Ltd. He handed over cash of Rs 5 million to the then branch manager, Mr Akhtar Hussain.
Mr Hussain filled in the deposit slip, and after signing and stamping it, handed over the counterfoil to the complainant. The manager had deceitfully mentioned some imaginary cheque numbers on his deposit slip instead of cash amount personally handed over to him.
Further, the bank lodged an FIR with FIA Faisalabad against the main accused and his accomplices. The bank did not pay Mr. Bajwa his claim despite acknowledging his complaint. Both complainants approached the Banking Mohtasib to seek justice.
The Banking Mohtasib investigated both the cases and, after perusal of facts, ordered that the complainants may be refunded their lost money by the respective banks.
Wafaqi Mohtasib held that the complainants had entrusted their hard earned money to the concerned banks and it was fiduciary duty of the banks to protect their customers.
It noted that the appointment of vigilant bank officials, honest and professional staff was the responsibility of the bank and not of the complainants.
The Ombudsman noted that the bank officials had been duly posted by the management of the banks and they were performing the employer’s business, when the complainants had suffered financial losses due to the unethical and fraudulent activities of the authorized bank officers.
The bank cannot escape the liability in such cases when the commission of fraud with the accountholder by its management is established & admitted, the Mohtasib held and ordered that both the banks were responsible to make good the loss of the complainants without further delay. Subsequently, the banks filed separate appeals against the decisions.
The President upheld both decisions of the Mohtasib on the grounds that banks were given ample opportunity by the Mohtasib to defend & controvert the claims of the complainants, however, banks had failed to discharge the burden & statutory liability cast upon them under the law.
“No justification has been made to upset the order of the learned Banking Mohtasib”, the President wrote while rejecting the representations of the banks.
