Embezzlement Of Tk 30cr
BB asks Prime Bank to refund 2,500 jobseekers by Sept 30
Bangladesh Bank has again asked Prime Bank to refund the undertaking money its mobile banking service solution provider SMG Infocom Ltd collected from 2,500 jobseekers by September 30 this year as ‘the bank cannot avoid the responsibility for the fraudulent act’.
On August 27, the BB issued a letter to the managing director and chief executive officer of Prime Bank saying that the bank had no scope to get waiver from the BB action against the fraudulent act of SMG Infocom Ltd in accordance with the 7.7 article of the central bank’s guidelines on mobile financial services for the banks.
On May 14, the BB issued the first letter to Prime Bank asking it to refund the undertaking money to the jobseekers, but the bank is yet to take any initiative in this regard.
The BB cancelled the mobile banking licence of Prime Bank on August 6 this year as the central bank found that Prime Bank was responsible for the swindling of up to Tk 30 crore from the 2,500 job seekers by the bank-appointed mobile banking service solution provider SMG Infocom, using tricks.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that Prime Bank might have thought that it would be able to avoid refunding of the undertaking money to the jobseekers as the central bank cancelled its mobile banking licence.
Prime Bank will have to refund the undertaking money to the jobseekers, otherwise the central bank will take more punitive measure against the bank, the official said.
As part of the move, the BB issued the second letter to Prime Bank asking it to refund the money by September 30.
Asked whether his bank would take any initiative to refund the undertaking money, Prime Bank managing director Md Ehsan Khasru said over the mobile phone that he was yet to see the letter.
He declined to make any further comment in this connection.
The BB earlier conducted an inspection of the mobile financial services of Prime Bank where the central bank had unearthed that SMG Infocom recruited around 2,500 people to operate mobile banking services of Prime Bank.
The solution provider took huge amount of money from them as undertaking, using tricks, the BB inspection report said.
The report said that SMG Infocom had closed its operation immediately after the recruitment leaving 2,500 jobless but it had not refunded the undertaking money to the appointed.
The BB official said that SMG Infocom had received between Tk 50,000 and Tk 2,50,000 from each person as undertaking money.
The solution provider had assured the jobseekers that it would refund the undertaking money to them after recruitment, the official said.
The BB inspection report said SMG Infocom had not returned the undertaking money to the appointed, violating the commitment and it also closed its operation.
-With New Age input
