By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Dec 22: The first batch of victims involved in the BSN investment scam has received full refunds of their losses, says Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen.
In a statement today, Chong revealed that one of the victims, Dr Alex, along with his wife, had each received a full refund of RM200,000 from Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), while Dr Alex’s sister was refunded RM300,000 last week.
“Today, Dr Alex and his wife came to my office to express their thanks and gratitude for the assistance rendered in helping them obtain the refund from BSN,” he said, adding that the couple also brought Christmas cake ahead of the upcoming Christmas celebration.
Chong welcomed BSN’s move to expedite the refund process, noting that the case involved many victims with differing circumstances.
“As there are many victims involved and each case comes with different facts, the refund will be carried out in stages,” he explained.
He assured that efforts would continue to ensure justice for all affected parties, particularly those who had lodged complaints through his office.
The refunds come amid investigations into an alleged investment fraud involving a BSN officer, which previously saw at least 73 victims reporting losses exceeding RM11 million.
The case first came to light on Nov 28 when Dr Alex and his wife sought Chong and Kong’s help after their lifetime savings amounting to RM400,000 had allegedly disappeared following the withdrawal of their investments from a unit trust management company to reinvest them in a financial product promoted by the bank officer.
They said that the funds were transferred directly in cash within the bank’s branch, and the victims never handled any of the money themselves.
It was only when they were informed that the bank officer in question had been suspended from work over issues related to the same product that they became alarmed.
They then immediately checked with the bank, only to be told that no such account existed under their names and no funds had ever been deposited.
Since then, on Dec 4, it was reported that 11 victims have registered claims of similar fraud cases involving the purported BSN employee, with an estimated RM1.6 million reported to have been misappropriated and swindled from them.
On Nov 29, BSN assured that they will take full responsibility for the employee’s action and return the money upon conclusion of the investigation.
Later, on Dec 1, BSN clarified that all genuine investments in financial products promoted by BSN will only be carried out via debit and fund transfers, and that no cash is allowed to be involved.
BSN has since set up a special team stationed at BSN’s main office in Jalan Satok here to handle fraud-related complaints. — DayakDaily
