Dawn Investigation Cell
SAHIWAL/HARAPAH: Authorities in the Sahiwal division of Pakistan’s Punjab province are investigating how gold jewelry kept inside a bank in the historic city of Harappa was stolen and replaced with fake jewelry.
According to authorities, 40 victims have so far applied for an investigation in this regard.
The first clue to this story came to light in mid-February this year when Sajid Bashir, a resident of the historic town of Harappa in Sahiwal division, repaid the loan taken from the bank and demanded the return of his gold kept in the bank locker in return.
Sajid Bashir said, “I had taken a loan from the Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank. I returned about five hundred thousand rupees this year, but the bank staff started harassing me to return the gold.”
“After that, when the gold was returned to me, it was not the jewelry that I had kept to borrow money from, but the bank staff gave me fake jewelry.”
In April, Sajid Bashir filed a complaint with the bank’s zonal chief on the matter, after which the situation changed and a large-scale investigation began.
Now, the Punjab Provincial Bank administration and the FIA are investigating the matter at the same time.
A senior officer of the Federal Investigation Agency FIA said on condition of anonymity “In the investigation so far, seven employees of the same bank branch have been found involved in this whole matter. One person is a local journalist and it was a kind of gang who replaced the gold kept in more than 40 lockers with fake gold. Initially, it was thought that it was up to Rs 16 crore, but now it seems that up to Rs 50 crore has been embezzled.
More victims are also coming forward in this regard, while 6 cases have been registered in the FIA Faisalabad Circle so far.
SHO Faisalabad FIA Circle Ajmal Hussain says that the investigation into this matter is still ongoing and a large-scale investigation is being conducted. When the report is completed, the media will be informed about it.
Taking a loan from banks on gold jewelry is the easiest way, which works like a one-window operation.
Banks give loans to customers in exchange for their gold and the jewelry is kept safe in lockers in the same bank branch. The responsibility lies with the concerned bank branch manager.
Former bank manager Amanat Ali, operations manager Noman Akram and journalist Imran are in FIA custody in the Harappa embezzlement case, while the other accused have got their interim bail till June 3.
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