The relevant investigative authorities in Egypt have referred a former deputy manager of a Blom Bank branch to criminal court for his involvement in one of the largest embezzlement cases involving banks in recent times. This follows his and another businessman’s illicit acquisition of approximately 200 million Egyptian pounds from the funds of 13 banks as a result of a fraudulent scheme.
The investigation indicated that the accused, in his capacity as a public employee - deputy manager of Blom Bank's Opera branch and head of the branch's treasury, facilitated the unlawful appropriation of funds belonging to several banks. He exploited his position to ease matters for the deceased businessman Adif Ahmed Hassan, chairman of Al-Wahda Company for Import and Export and Commercial Agencies, regarding whom an order was issued not to proceed with criminal action due to his death, aiming to seize about 200 million Egyptian pounds from the funds of 13 banks in the Egyptian banking sector, in which the state has a stake and which are subject to its supervision.
This was accomplished through deception by opening bank accounts in the name of the companies Al-Ard Al-Tayba Kamel Hussein Mohamed and his partner, and Mohamed Amin Ali Abdul Hadi at Blom Bank's Opera branch - his place of work - using forged documents attributed to the owners of the companies which were not true.
He obtained bank checkbooks for the aforementioned accounts and another account in the name of Al-Firdaws Company for Milling, and entrusted them to the deceased accused to issue large amounts for the benefit of the unitary company owned by him, and to negotiate them with banks to create the illusion of commercial transactions between him and the owners of those companies.
The deceased accused presented these to 13 banks as collateral for the credit facilities granted to him by the banks and unlawfully obtained from Bank Misr Iran through 30 checks amounting to 22.5 million pounds, from Bank Audy through 3 checks amounting to about 6 million pounds, from Qatar National Bank through 2 checks amounting to about 7 million pounds, from Suez Canal Bank through 16 checks amounting to about 28 million pounds, and from Blom Bank through 3 checks amounting to about 9 million pounds.
Additionally, he unlawfully obtained from the National Bank of Egypt via 8 checks amounting to about 22 million pounds, from Cairo Bank via 15 checks amounting to about 27 million pounds, from Arab Bank via 11 checks amounting to about 22 million pounds, from Abu Dhabi First Bank via 8 checks amounting to about 21 million pounds, from Alexandria Bank via 6 checks amounting to about 17 million pounds, from Kuwait National Bank via 1 check amounting to about 4 million pounds, from Union National Bank via 10 checks amounting to about 9 million pounds, and from Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank via 12 checks amounting to about 7 million pounds, unlawfully seizing those amounts for himself with the intent to possess.
