Fugitive Dongol held for Rs 57.5-million card fraud
Former Himalayan Bank employee Anish Bhakta Suwal Dongol has been arrested on charges of stealing Rs 57.5 million by misusing his and his wife’s debit and credit cards.
Former Himalayan Bank employee Anish Bhakta Suwal Dongol has been arrested on charges of stealing Rs 57.5 million by misusing his and his wife’s debit and credit cards. The police picked him up on Sunday night in Nepalgunj ending his two-year life on the run.
Dongol, 38, a resident of Kathmandu-34 Baneshwor, served in the IT department of Himalayan Bank from 2004 to 2012. Designated as an assistant manager of the bank, Dongol was the IT chief at the Card Centre at its Pulchowk branch. Before this, Dongol had worked as the senior technical officer at Smart Technologies, Kathmandu for three years.
The bank discovered the theft after encountering an error in the Visa/MasterCard receivable account during a reconciliation of accounts in September 2012. According to the bank, Dongol had been depositing money received through Visa and MasterCard in his own account instead of the bank’s account.
Dongol’s assistant Girish Raj Pandey spotted the error in the account of Dongol’s wife Nilu Sharma Suwal when he checked the system as the IT chief was on leave.
The police said that Suwal used to make sure that the errors were not detected by the bank by using his technical expertise to conceal the theft. The police believe that Dongol resorted to stealing the bank’s money after he started going to casinos in 2008.
“Though he won some money in the beginning, he started losing subsequently. After becoming hard up for money, he resorted to the misuse of his skills,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Pushkar Karki, chief of the Metropolitan Police Crime Investigation Division, Hanuman Dhoka.
Being an IT expert and familiar with the bank’s software, Dongol misused his skills and knowledge to withdraw money through his and his wife’s credit cards, said SSP Karki. The bank had lodged a complaint with the police on September 22, 2012 after finding the discrepancy.
“He fled to India after his scam was uncovered. We suspect that he managed to steal money from different places by using his IT expertise,” said SSP Karki. He added that other employees of the bank might have been involved in the fraud, and that a thorough probe would be carried out. He said that further investigations were underway.
After the case at Himalayan Bank, the country’s banks have encountered many other card fraud cases which have prompted them to strengthen their IT system.
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