Couple arrested for stealing RM110,000 from four MH370 victims
The Malaysian Insider – 30 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- Couple arrested for stealing RM110,000 from four MH370 victims
Police have detained a bank officer and her husband over the siphoning off more than RM110,000 from the accounts of four people who were on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in March, Bernama reported.
Kuala Lumpur Commercial Crime chief ACP Izany Abd Ghani said the bank officer, who has been working for the bank for 10 years, was arrested at her home in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, at 4pm yesterday.
Her 33-year-old husband was picked up by police at a workshop in Ampang where he had taken his car for servicing.
"We believe the husband is also involved," Izany was quoted as saying.
"Police have yet to retrieve the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the bank. It will take some time."
The couple are being held at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters.
It had been reported that RM110,643 belonging to four MH370 passengers had disappeared from their accounts and was believed to have been transferred without permission by a bank employee.
The accounts belonged to Hue Pui Heng, 66, and MAS crew member Tan Size Hiang, 46, both Malaysians, and two Chinese nationals – Ju Kun, 32, and Tian Jun Wei, 29.
All four, it was also reported, had accounts with the same international bank.
A bank customer service manager noticed the suspicious activity in one of the victims' account son July 18 after conducting a monthly audit and conducted an internal probe before lodging a report with the police on August 2.
Investigations showed that the money was wired from three accounts to one before being withdrawn from several automated-teller machines (ATM) in the Klang Valley.
The bank officer, whom police arrested, had issued a new ATM card to an accomplice who used it to withdraw the money, the New Straits Times reported.
The report said a total of RM35,000 was then credited into a bank account under the name "Ali Faran".
“He is believed to be a foreigner because a passport number was used to open an account. More individuals are believed to be involved and we are tracking and identifying them,” a source told the NST.
Meanwhile, Izany advised families of passengers of MH370 to monitor the bank statements of their loved ones.
"Their families can check their bank statements. We ask them to be careful," he was reported saying.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur and has yet to be found. – August 15, 2014.
