THIS refers to ‘5,000 fake bank accounts traced, says PM’s aide’ (Nov 13).

The million-dollar question is how on earth such accounts could be opened with different banks throughout the country now that the process of opening an account has been made meticulously foolproof, supposedly.

It is mandatory that the person wishing to open an account should come in person with his or her original CNIC to the bank.

Bank officials follow a strict checklist, which includes a detailed know-your-customer of the intending customer. Additional documents like utility bill copies and evidence of income and source are required to be submitted at the time of opening an account. The person is only allowed transactions after the verification of CNIC and approval of the head office. Till such time, the customer is not even issued a cheque book.

Furthermore, bank officials are instructed to report heavy transactions and suspicious amounts deposited/withdrawn in accounts that do not commensurate with the apparent source of income of the account holder, especially if it is a new account. All such transactions are reported to the controlling head office of the bank at the end of the day for information and further action. In some banks, transactions exceeding a certain amount are monitored and supervised at the controlling offices on a daily basis in real time, and queries are raised regarding genuineness of the same.

The question that arises is that in this age of computer technology, with so much monitoring, audit both internal and external, and inspection by the central bank, how can such lapses be ignored while accounts are opened, unless some compromises have been made by the people running the banking system, and the regulators too weren’t vigilant?

This only proves negligence on the part of bank officials and regulators.

Muhammad K. Sufi

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2018