Himalayan Bank employee embezzles Rs 45m

Kathmandu , Nov 1 - Police have arrested a junior Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL) employee on charges of embezzling over Rs 45 million by misappropriating balances, held in unclaimed accounts of the bank, newspaper report said.

A high-ranking HBL official said that the employee identified as Purusotum Dahal, was working with the bank for the last 10 years as a supervisor. The fraud, which was complicated in nature, was discovered by Mustaq Ali, who was in the bank for a special internal auditing from Habib Bank of Pakistan, which has a 20 percent equity participation in the HBL, The Kathmandu Post report Tuesday.

According to information received, Dahal used to transfer some portion of the balance of the unclaimed account to the accounts of his friends held in various banks in Nepal. And, he used to collect required amount of money from his friends.

"With this tactic, he was able to transfer over Rs 45.2 million within a period of eight months," said an HBL official. The HBL has around Rs 200 million in unclaimed accounts.

In his written statement furnished to an investigating team, Dahal has accepted the crime and vowed to pay back the entire amount. The HBL has also initiated necessary legal steps to freeze his bank accounts and fixed assets.

When contacted, Ashok Rana, chief executive officer of the bank said "We have initiated an in-depth investigation and the bank will recover the money at any cost," adding that the bank has taken necessary precautions to prevent similar types of fraud in future.

Bank officials said that it was not clear where Dahal has kept the money, the report said.

However, in his statement given to an investigating police team, he has admitted that part of the embezzled money was used in building two houses in Kathmandu. According to the team, he also lost large amounts in different casinos. Police are also preparing to file a case against Dahal for fraud.