SAHIWAL: Two bank employees were fired for withdrawing cash from two ‘Kisan Card’ account holders in Pakpattan and Arifwala cities.

The fraud was exposed when beneficiaries started receiving SMS alerts from the BoP number 9267 for deductions they had not authorised. Alarmed, they reported the issue to senior BoP officials, who uncovered the malpractice.

The first incident involved Ali Sher, of Bunga Baloochi, Pakpattan. After selected as a beneficiary under the Punjab government’s Kisan Card scheme, Ali received a message directing him to visit the BoP counter at the Agriculture Department office in Pakpattan to collect his ATM card. Despite multiple visits and biometric verifications, Ali was informed that his card had not arrived.

On the other hand, BoP employee Mohsin activated his card but withheld it. He later used the card to withdraw Rs9,000 in multiple transactions on Jan 13 and 14 from branches in Arifwala and Pakpattan.

When Ali received SMS notifications of these deductions, he rushed to the BoP main branch in Pakpattan.

Investigations confirmed that Mohsin had misused the card. Mohsin confessed, returned the stolen amount and was subsequently expelled from his job.

A similar incident occurred with Muhammad Bashir, of Farid Kot, Pakpattan. He received an SMS notification of Rs10,000 deducted from his account.

Further investigation revealed that he had been mistakenly issued a female beneficiary’s card, which was misused by Tanveer, an employee at the Arifwala branch.

Like Mohsin, Tanveer confessed to the fraud, returned the stolen amount and was also expelled.

Another beneficiary from Arifwala reported a loss of Rs14,000 due to similar fraudulent activity.

Sources said that at least six such fraudulent cards were identified, with a total misappropriation of Rs123,000.

BoP officials recovered the stolen amounts from the implicated employees and assured the affected beneficiaries that new cards would be issued within two weeks.

Efforts to gather further details from Zonal Chief Kashif Dogar and Rao Waqar of BoP Pakpattan were unsuccessful, as both declined to comment.

Similarly, attempts to contact Assistant Director Agriculture Extension Habib for his version of events went unanswered.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2025