Reported TDRs in parliamentarians' names are fake: SBP

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday said that reported Term Deposit Receipts (TDRs) in the name of politicians are fake and an attempt to malign the parliamentarians. After an initial investigation on the complaint of the secretary to the Speaker National Assembly regarding the issuance of the TDRs in the name of certain parliamentarians, the SBP has issued a statement to clarify the issue.

According to the SBP statement, apropos the complaint received from the secretary to the Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and news items appearing in the media regarding the issuance of Term Deposit Receipts (TDRs) worth huge amounts in the name of certain parliamentarians, including Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Ch. Aitzaz Ahsan and Member National Assembly Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman, from SME Bank and transactions in their accounts was investigated by the State Bank of Pakistan.

"Initial results reveal that no such TDRs have been issued by the SME Bank nor any of these parliamentarians have any deposit account with the said bank. It is clarified that the bank issues TDRs only for those of its customers who already have a deposit account with the said bank", it added. It appears that the TDRs have been issued using counterfeit or stolen TDR Forms from the bank by some unscrupulous elements to malign the Parliamentarians.