HBL employee found involved in Rs 56.7m fraud

An employee of the Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL), Anil Bhakta Suwal, has been found involved in fraud totalling 

Rs 56.7 million while settling Visa and MasterCard accounts receivable.

HBL Chief Executive Officer Ashoke Rana confirmed the fraud. "He (Suwal) was found involved in depositing the 

received amount in his own account, which instead should have been deposited in the bank's account," Rana said.

HBL has suspended Suwal and registered an FIR with the police on Saturday. The police also confirmed the registration

of the FIR. Deputy Superintendent of Police Arun BC at Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka, said the police are searching for Suwal.

A board meeting of the bank on Sunday decided to recover the lost amount from Suwal and initiate a legal action 

against him. "We have already frozen property owned by Suwal's family," said Rana. According Rana, Suwal's family

 has agreed to pay the money equal to the amount of the fraud committed within the next 30 days. He, however, assured 

that Suwal's act has not caused any loss to the bank's depositors.

In a press release, Himalayan Bank Employees Union said Suwal had been involved in the fraudulent activity since 2008. Saying that the fraud was discovered on September 14, the union expressed displeasure over the bank management not disseminating the information. The union has demanded that the fraud amount be recovered along with fine.

Visa and MasterCard are renowned companies that enable payment through cards worldwide. When a foreigner visits 

Nepal, they make payment to hotels and shopping malls through their credit cards. The hotels and shopping malls 

concerned make claims to local banks engaged in the business and the banks get the reimbursement of such payment 

from Visa and MasterCard.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has also expressed concern over the matter. A NRB official said an inspection team

 assigned to conduct a field study of HBL has also been told to look into the fraud in detail. "The incident shows

 weakness in the internal control system," said the NRB official. "Internal and external audit should have found out 

the missing amount if the fraud had been committed for a long."

source:ekantipur