Government must intervene to refund victims of RM11 million bank scam, says Stampin MP

KUCHING (Jan 29): Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen has called on the federal government to instruct a bank to fully refund all victims of a major scam in its Sarawak branch that resulted in losses of RM11 million.

Speaking during the debate on the Royal Address in Parliament in Kuala Lumpur today, Chong said more than 70 customers had fallen victim to the fraudulent scheme uncovered late last year.

The scam was carried out by a bank officer tasked with promoting the bank’s investment products, together with several colleagues.

He explained that the officers had collected funds from customers under the pretext of bank investments but misappropriated the money and issued fake investment receipts, with all transactions conducted within the branch.

“As a bank, it must take full responsibility for the wrongdoing of its officers, especially since the fraud was committed within its own premises.

It is therefore the bank’s duty to refund all customers who were cheated,” said Chong, who is also DAP Sarawak chairman.

However, Chong noted that while some victims had received refunds, many others had been denied compensation.

He criticised the bank’s justification that part of the investment funds came from cash kept at home rather than withdrawn from bank accounts, which the bank labelled as a ‘suspicious source of funds’.

“Keeping cash at home is not a crime. If there are concerns about the source of funds, that should be investigated separately by the police and not used as an excuse by the bank to deny refunds to its customers,” he said, describing the bank’s stance as unreasonable and irresponsible.

Noting that the bank is government-owned, Chong urged the government to intervene immediately.

“I urge the government to instruct the bank to immediately refund all victims of this fraud. The victims should not be made to suffer further due to technical excuses,” he said.