Chong pushes bank to fully refund victims of scam

KUCHING (March 16): Sarawak Democratic Action Party chairman Chong Chieng Jen has called on bank to take full responsibility and refund victims who fell prey to an investment scam involving its former employees.

Following a meeting Sunday with five victims of the scam, he said they have not been fully refunded due to the bank citing their source of funds as ‘suspicious’.

“One of them has received zero refund from the bank, while the remainder four have received partial refund. Amongst them, in total, the bank has not refunded an approximate sum of RM200,000.

“The reason given by the bank was that there was no proof of the source of fund via withdrawals from any bank account. Thus, the bank deemed the source of funds as ‘suspicious’ and refused to this date to refund the amounts,” he said in a statement.

Chong noted that all the transactions were conducted through normal banking procedures, with customers handing over cash to the bank officers who, in turn, issued receipts.

“Under the circumstances, the fact that subsequent to the transactions, the officer in question misappropriated the money has nothing to do with the customers,” he added.

He emphasised that the bank’s legal obligation to reimburse its customers for fraud committed by its officers in the course of the bank’s business is independent of, and unrelated to, the customers’ source of funds.

“It is not for the bank to claim ‘suspicious source of funds’ as a reason to exonerate the bank from its legal obligation to reimburse the victims of the fraud committed by its officers.”

According to Chong, four of the victims had started their investments in 2024, and it was only in December 2025 when the scam was exposed that they made enquiries, only to be told that they had been defrauded for more than a year.

“Such a stand taken by the bank in refusing to refund the scam investment is most unreasonable and cannot stand in the face of the law,” he said.

Furthermore, Chong said he had alerted the Ministry of Finance so that immediate action could be taken to protect the rights of the victims.