Tk19cr given to a VIP customer after banking hours: Union Bank
"Although banking rules were violated through this, such incidents are not new. Such transactions are for customer-bank relationships"
In an explanation about the discrepancy in its vault's money, the Union Bank authorities have informed that Tk19 crore was given to a VIP customer after banking hours.
"The money was given to a VIP customer after banking hours in the evening," Hasan Iqbal, deputy managing director of the bank, said in a press conference on Thursday, following news on Tk19 crore missing from the bank's vault circulating on different online portals.
Banking rules have been violated through this, but such incidents are not new. Such transactions happen based on customer-bank relationships, said the bank official.
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Three members of Union Bank's Gulshan branch have been withdrawn over the incident, he said, adding that a probe committee has been formed too.
Besides, the amount was adjusted in the presence of an inspection team of the Bangladesh Bank, said Hasan.
During a regular visit to the bank branch on Monday, an inspection team of the central bank found a big discrepancy between the amount in documents and the money kept in the bank's vault.
According to branch documents, there was Tk31 crore in the vault, but the inspection team found only Tk12 crore, said a central bank source.
The branch officials could not give any answer to the central bank's inspection team instantly about the missing amount.
Earlier, Ali Hossain Bhuiyan, company secretary of Union Bank, told The Business Standard that there was no such incident and refused to comment on the inspection team's visit.
The vault is a bank's secure space for deposited money. According to rules, law enforcers have to be informed if the amount is found lower than what is stated in documents.
Sirajul Islam, spokesperson and executive director of the Bangladesh Bank, told TBS that every year the Bangladesh Bank's team visits country's scheduled banks. But he had no information about the Union Bank's incident.
The Union Bank, which is in various crises, relies on the deposits of government institutions. At the end of last year, the bank's deposits stood at Tk17,271 crore, of which, Tk4,127 crore belonged to various government institutions.
