KUALA LUMPUR: The country's main union for bank workers says banks are responsible for their depositors' lost money, following fraudulent withdrawals of fixed deposits amounting to RM24.2 million.
"In this case, the bank is responsible for returning their depositor's lost money," said National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) General-Secretary J Solomon.
Solomon said banks cannot "wash their hands" of the issue if the fault lies with them.
He was commenting on Bank Negara Malaysia's call for those affected in the case to be reimbursed.
So far, police have detained 14 people, including four bank employees to assist in its probe into the fraudulent withdrawals of RM24.2 million from several fixed deposit accounts.
The case came to light after several depositors noticed suspicious cash withdrawals from their fixed deposit accounts in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Solomon said bank employees were custodians of public funds and must carry out their duties with integrity as it could affect the people's trust in the institutions.
Meanwhile, crime analyst Datuk Shahul Hamid Abd Rahim proposed banks rotate employees for critical tasks to avoid a repeat of the incident.
He said banks can also make it mandatory for depositors to check their accounts more regularly.
Recently, Bank Negara said all financial institutions must implement strong controls to safeguard their customers' money.
It also reminded banks involved in the police probe to cooperate with the authorities and take strong remedial or disciplinary action based on findings from internal investigations.
