Bank Negara has been accused of failing to act against two top officials of a government financial institution for alleged fraud, bribery and abuse of power.

Claiming this today, a former employee of the institution concerned said the central bank had not taken action due to the ‘high-profiles’ of the personalities implicated.

While one of these top officials of the bank has since retired, the other - a head of department - is still employed there, alleged Norhayati Abdullah, who had worked with the government bank for 12 years.

bank negara 270307 She said this after filing a report on the matter with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in Putrajaya.

Norhayati also said she had informed the National Audit Department as well as Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

"Apparently, because it involved high-profile personnel in the bank, they (Bank Negara) wanted to cover up the whole thing," Norhayati told Malaysiakini when contacted today after her meeting with ACA officials.

According to Norhayati, Bank Negara had investigated one of the two officials for abusing his powers for personal gain in 2004.

This pertained to the official’s personal calls being paid for by the bank as well as his misuse of petrol payment cards.

"I know Bank Negara knew about it because there’s a 2004 report from Bank Negara regarding the matter but on one acted on it," said Norhayati.

Subsequently, an investigation by the bank’s internal auditors was initiated after another claim of fraud surfaced in 2005 involving the second top official who, then as now, is head of one of the bank’s departments.

Commission accusation

This time, said Norhayati, the fraud pertained to payments made to an advertising agency for the bank’s newspaper advertisements. The rates quoted by the agency for payment were much higher than usual, she said.

"It was a false quotation that was submitted, but it was paid for although the officer knew the bank was being over-charged," she said.

Although the bank’s internal audit department was alerted of the alleged fraud, its instructions to withhold payment to the advertising agency pending investigations were ignored, said Norhayati.

"When the internal auditors investigated, they found that there was, in fact, overcharging," she alleged.

The link between the first top official and the department head lies in their agreement to ‘cover up’ each other’s malpractices, Norhayati claimed.

aca anti corruption agency and money and investigate Norhayati said she suddenly found herself a scapegoat when - to ‘divert’ heat from investigations into the overcharging allegation - fingers were pointed to her as having demanded and received a commission from the advertising agency.

"The owner of the agency was asked to - and eventually did - write to the chief executive officer of the bank stating that I had demanded and received a commission," said Norhayati, who was then an officer in the advertising section of the bank’s corporate communications department.

Despite investigations finding no evidence of the allegations against her, Norhayati said she was dismissed for criminal breach of trust (CBT).

"A domestic inquiry was held against me. In the letter, they said they found me guilty of CBT, but no police report was made against me. I was, in fact, unfairly dismissed and made a scapegoat because they wanted to cover up this thing," she said.

Following the ordeal, Norhayati said she had lodged police reports against the bank and the advertising agency head. She has also filed a legal suit for defamation against the advertising agency owner.

‘Not justified’

Accompanying Norhayati today when she lodged her ACA report was Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) chairperson Ezam Mohd Nor.

"This is a serious case involving a government bank and its top management. We are quite concerned that there has been alleged fraud, bribery and abuse of power in our banking system," said Ezam when contacted.

"What we can see is that there have been a lot of cover-ups in the name of protecting the good name of the bank and the banking industry. To us, this is not justified because a crime is a crime and needs to be prosecuted," he added.

The management of the bank concerned could not be reached for comments. A Bank Negara official, when called, said it may issue a response after it has been informed in writing of the allegations.

Both Ezam and Norhayati said that in order not to jeopardise ACA investigations into the case, they would not reveal the name of the bank at this juncture.