Cheques tampered with in private bank; two arrested

HYDERABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested two officers of a private bank for allegedly altering cheque amounts and causing a financial loss of Rs494,000 to a bank customer in Matli area of Badin District in Sindh.

The FIA’s Composite Circle Hyderabad registered a case against the suspects following a complaint lodged by Muhammad Hashim, who alleged that 13 cheques issued from his account had been tampered with and their amounts increased before being encashed.

According to the FIR, Hashim had issued the 13 cheques to different labourers and other individuals for comparatively smaller amounts. However, the cheques were allegedly altered before processing, resulting in Rs630,850 being withdrawn against cheques originally issued for Rs136,850.

The alleged alterations caused a wrongful loss of Rs494,000 to the complainant, according to the FIA.

During the inquiry, statements of the complainant and all cheque holders were recorded. The cheque holders told investigators that they had received the cheques in their original form and had not altered the amounts or contents before presenting them for encashment.

Their statements, according to the FIA, ruled out the possibility of the payees altering the cheques and indicated that the instruments were tampered with while in the custody and control of bank officials before being processed.

The branch manager, Abdul Wahab Bilal, also provided his statement and confirmed after examining the original banking records that all 13 disputed cheques had been materially altered in the numerical figures representing the amounts.

The branch manager told investigators that the disputed cheques were processed and entered into the bank’s Core Banking System by Asif Ali, a teller and input operator, while three of the cheques were authorised by Mubashir Ali, the operation manager.

The original cheques and relevant banking records were seized by the FIA and sent to its Directorate of Forensic Labs in Islamabad for examination.

According to the FIA’s forensic report, the numerical figures on all 13 cheques had been altered through insertion and overwriting, increasing the amounts originally written by the complainant before they were entered into the banking system.

The agency said the forensic findings corroborated the statements of the complainant and witnesses and established that the alterations were deliberate.

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The FIA alleged that Asif Ali fraudulently altered the numerical figures on the 13 cheques, entered the enhanced amounts into the Core Banking System and processed them for payment.

Mubashir Ali, meanwhile, allegedly authorised payment of three altered cheques despite being aware of the discrepancies, thereby facilitating the alleged fraud.

The FIA said the two suspects’ actions resulted in an excess withdrawal of Rs494,000 from the complainant’s account.

The suspects have been booked under Sections 409, 420, 468, 471, 477-A, 109 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The accused were identified as Asif Ali, a former teller of the bank and resident of Digri, Mirpurkhas, who is currently posted at the bank’s regional office in Hyderabad, and Mubashir Ali, a former operations manager and resident of Matli, Badin, who is also currently posted at the bank’s regional office in Hyderabad.

The FIA said the role of any other person found involved would be determined during the investigation.

The original FIR has been submitted before the Special Court (Offences in Banks), Sindh, in Karachi.