Bank scam in Lower Chitral: DPO initiates probe against three police officers

ISLAMABAD: Lower Chitral District Police Officer (DPO) Iftikhar Shah has launched an investigation against three police officials who allegedly embezzled an amount of Rs 33.98 million in connivance with the branch manager of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), main branch, Lower Chitral.

The DPO confirmed the scam to Business Recorder and said he would not spare anyone involved, adding: “I will recover every single penny and have already recovered some of the amount.”

He said that a three-member investigation team headed by him was probing the matter. “Enough evidence against all the four persons, especially the NBP branch manager Amjad A Sani, has already been gathered,” the DPO said.

According to official documents available with Business Recorder, the three police officials in connivance with the NBP Chitral branch manager Amjad A Sani allegedly stole Rs 33,979,000.

The embezzled amount was received in the bank account of the Lower Chitral police chief in lieu of security provided to the under-construction Lawi-hydopower project from 01/7/2021 to 30/06/2022.

From the DPO account, the amount was to be transferred through challans to the government treasury i.e. the district account office (DAO) account. However, the three policemen and the manager of NBP Chitral withdrew and embezzled the entire amount.

Under the standard operating procedure (SOP), the bank was bound to alert the signatory, in this case the DPO, about the withdrawal of the amount from the account of the police through a phone call.

However, the branch manager of the bank – Amjad A Sani – according to sources, did not follow the SOP, and after withdrawing the cash issued a receipt with the bank stamp on it – available with Business Recorder – dated February 7, 2023, that was submitted to the district account officer and the DPO offices by the police officials. The receipt later turned out to be fake as the amount was never reconciled at the treasury account.

The three policemen after producing the fake receipt with the help of the NBP branch manager also managed to get clearance from the District Accounts Officer’s office, taking advantage of the power outages at the office.

The sources said that the DAO office had okayed the bank receipt first after seeing the bank stamp on it, which later turned out to be fake.

However, the DAO office was put on red-alert after it became aware that the money was never deposited in its account.

Sources further said that this left the DAO office with no option but to report the non-reconciliation of the challan to the DPO, which forced the DPO lower Chitral Iftikhar Shah to initiate investigation against the NBP branch manager and the three policemen.

When contacted, the NBP branch manager denied his involvement, saying he needed to consult his legal team to comment on the issue any further.

The three policemen allegedly involved in the scandal could not be reached for comments as they did not respond to calls made on their mobile phones till the filing of this report.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024