ISLAMABAD
\nPresident Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday upheld a decision of the Banking Mohtasib (BM) and directed the Silk Bank Ltd (SBL) to refund Rs 200,000 to a victim of bank fraud along with the remaining profit till the date the amount is credited to his bank account.
\nThe president said the private bank had committed maladministration by failing to appoint honest officials at its bank branch and unjustly withholding the profit amount.
\nAlvi gave these directions while rejecting a representation of Silk Bank against the BM\u2019s decision in a case where the complainant Muhammad Shafiq, a citizen of Multan, had invested Rs 200,000 in Term Deposit Receipt (TDR) with the bank.
\nHowever, he was only paid profit for six months and when he went to withdraw the remaining profit from his account, he was informed that his TDR was fake and he had been \u201choodwinked\u201d by the ex-branch operations manager.
\nThe president in his decision held that the complainant had produced the original TDR which bore the bank\u2019s logo, duly stamped and signed by the ex-branch operations manager.
\nHe said the bank was \u201cresponsible for any document signed by its employee on purportedly the bank\u2019s stationery with a stamp of the bank\u201d.
\nHe added that there was \u201cno litmus test\u201d for the general public to differentiate between the original and fake stationery of the bank.
\nPresident Alvi held that the bank\u2019s contention that profit amounts of six months were credited to the complainant\u2019s account through fund transfers from multiple accounts of the customers and not from the bank\u2019s payable account as normally done, carried no weight as a customer was usually satisfied when monthly profit was credited in his account.
\nHe remarked that it was not the duty of the customer to scrutinise the records and internal processes of a bank and to ascertain whether profit was credited to his account by the bank by routing through the bank\u2019s books.
\nThe president said that the bank was \u201cshifting responsibility to the complainant\u201d in order to cover its own internal lapses. He observed that the bank had admitted that the ex-branch manager had signed the said TDR and had committed fraud, and had been terminated from the bank\u2019s service in a fraud case.
\nHe added that it was a well-settled principle of \u201cvicarious liability\u201d that an employer is liable for the loss caused to a customer through the wrongful act of his employee in the course of the employer\u2019s business.
\nAlvi concluded that the appointment of vigilant bank officials and honest and professional staff was the responsibility of the bank and not of the complainant, who had posed his trust in the bank.
\nHe added that the bank was the custodian and trustee of the hard-earned money of the account holder. \u201cThe bank official was there in the bank duly posted by the management, and there was unimpeachable evidence of the commission of fraud by the bank official in the bank branch,\u201d he stated.
\nThe president, therefore, rejected the bank\u2019s representation as the bank could not escape liability in such a case when the commission of fraud was established and admitted.
\n\u201cIt is a case of wrongdoing and maladministration by the bank officials. The bank is, therefore, responsible to make good the loss of the complainant without further delay,\u201d Alvi added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday upheld a decision of the Banking Mohtasib (BM) and directed the Silk Bank Ltd (SBL) to refund Rs 200,000 to a victim of bank fraud along with the remaining profit till the date the amount is credited to his bank account. The president said the private bank had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-289657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n