By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 8: Stampin Member of Parliament Chong Chieng Jen has urged a national bank to immediately refund victims of an investment scam involving its former staff member, saying the bank should stop “finding excuses” to deny or delay repayment.
Chong said he first exposed the scam in late November 2025, which involved an ex-employee who promoted the bank’s financial products but allegedly misappropriated money received from customers during her employment with the bank.
Following the exposure, Chong said the bank’s top management met him and several victims and assured them that the refund process would be expedited.
“Some have received the refund but many are still waiting,” he said in a statement today.
Chong revealed that two siblings approached him recently after the bank refused, to date, to refund money they had lost in the scam.
The brother, identified as Stephen, was allegedly cheated of RM56,600, while his sister, Nancy, lost RM57,000.
According to Chong, the bank cited concerns over the source of part of the funds as the reason for refusing to refund the siblings in full.
In Stephen’s case, Chong said RM9,000 out of the total amount was paid in cash, with the rest transferred from another bank account. The bank was reportedly dissatisfied with his explanation for the cash payment and refused to refund the entire RM56,600.
“Most ridiculously, Stephen was even asked by the bank’s officer to produce the box that he used to keep the cash at home,” Chong said.
For Nancy, Chong said about RM6,000 of the RM57,000 came from her daughter’s savings and ang pao money, while the rest was transferred from other bank accounts. The bank allegedly deemed the cash portion “suspicious” and refused to refund her entire sum.
Chong stressed that the scam was committed by a staff member within the bank’s premises and said the institution should take responsibility.
“In this matter, the bank had a staff who committed a crime and fraud against members of the public. As a bank, it should have the decency to take immediate steps to refund the scammed money to its customers,” he said.
He criticised the bank’s actions in investigating victims over their source of funds, describing it as unfair and punitive.
“This is not the time to investigate the victims on their source of fund,” he said, adding that such actions amounted to “doubly punishing” victims who were first scammed and then treated as if they had committed wrongdoing themselves.
Chong said he had also been informed by several other victims of the same investment scam that they had yet to receive any refund.
“On my record, a majority of the victims still have not received the refund,” he said.
He urged the bank to honour its earlier commitment and swiftly return the victims’ money, calling on it to stop procrastinating or denying payment through what he described as unreasonable justifications. — DayakDaily
