‘No more excuses’: DAP S’wak chief tells bank to honour refunds after staff fraud

KUCHING (Jan 8): Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has called on a bank to refund money misappropriated by a former staff member instead of “finding excuses” to deny the victims’ claims.

The Stampin MP said two victims — a brother and sister — approached him after the said bank refused to refund their money, which had been scammed by the ex-staff.

“It seems (the bank) is trying to shirk its responsibility on the scam,” he said in a statement.

Last November, Chong exposed the scam involving a staff member, who promoted the bank’s financial products but misappropriated customer funds after receiving them.

Following the exposure, the bank management met with Chong and some victims, promising to expedite refunds.

Chong said while some victims have received refunds, many are still waiting.

He noted that Stephen, the brother, was cheated of RM56,600, but the bank refused to refund the full amount, questioning the source of RM9,000 paid in cash.

The bank reportedly even asked Stephen to produce the box in which he kept the cash at home.

His sister Nancy was cheated of RM57,000, with most funds transferred from other bank accounts.

The bank refused to refund approximately RM6,000 in cash from her daughter’s savings, citing ‘suspicious’ sources.

“(The bank) had a staff commit fraud within its premises. As a bank, it should have the decency to refund the scammed money immediately,” Chong said.

He added that investigating victims’ sources of funds doubles the punishment on those already scammed.

Chong said several other victims of the investment scam also have not received refunds to date, and urged the bank to honour its promises and quickly reimburse all victims.