SAHIWAL: More account holders filed complaints with the regional office of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Faisalabad, reportedly taking the number of local complaints to 40, for an in-depth investigation into replacement of their gold in Harappa branch of the Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited (PPCBL), Sahiwal.

Seven employees of the bank along with a gang, led by a local journalist, are allegedly involved in the scam.

New complainants who registered com-plaints with the FIA, Faisalabad, include Khalida Bibi, Manzoor Ahmed, Asima Javed, Muhammad Asadullah and Muhammad Ramzan and they alleged that ex-manager Amanat Ali had done fraud with them worth Rs400,000, Rs4.9m, Rs.04m, Rs2.5m and Rs10m, respectively.

FIA Faisalabad SHO Ajmal Hussain said that investigations were under way. On the other hand, a source close to the situation at the PPCBL Head Office, Lahore, told Dawn, on condition of anonymity, that a State Bank of Pakistan team had also visited the branch and launched an investigation.

Senior bank officials at Lahore fear the embezzlement amount could be up to Rs500m, significantly higher than the already detected Rs16.5m corruption. The central audit team of the bank thinks that embezzlement was done with more than 70 account holders at the said branch. Harappa police and FIA had already registered two corruption cases against seven bank employees, namely former managerAmanat Ali, operations manager Nauman Akram, cashier Faryal Mumtaz, security guard Zafar Iqbal, and private security guard Ashar Majeed, messenger Qamar Shahzad and bank goldsmith Javed Iqbal.

Harappa police booked them in the case registered by PPCBL zonal chief Nazir Ahmed. He said his office had received 40 complaints of Harappa branch account holders.

The case came to light when a client, Sajid Bashir, sought the return of the gold he pledged against a loan of Rs566,096 repaid in February 2025. The bank delayed return of his gold and he filed a complaint with the bank`s zonal chief on April 8, 2025.

This led to two separate investigations by Awas Khalid, deputy zonal chief, Okara, and the central audit team in April and May. They established that gold was replaced with counterfeit gold in dozens of lockers as 40 clients complaints had surfaced. There are more than 100 lockers of gold in Harappa branch.

Tanvir Hussain, another bank accountholder approached the FIA, Faisalabad, alleging that Rs5.2m were misappropriated by the branch manager and operations manager in collusion with a gang led by journalist Muhammad Imran Nazir, a resident of Chak 10/1-L, Harappa. The FIA inquiry uncovered fraudulent transactions from a private bank to Tanvir`s account. Three cheques were drawn but never credited to his balance at Harappa. To conceal the fraud, fake bank statements were provided to him as proof.

In another complaint, journalist Imran Nazir had submitted fraudulent quotations for agricultural products and machinery to the PPCBL, securing approval for an agricultural loan of Rs5.2m in connivance with the bank manager. The FIA arrested Imran for using forged documents to get the loan. Presently, the FIA is interrogating Imran along with three bank employees.

In the latest development, Additional District and Sessions Judge Bashir Ahmed extended pre-arrest bail of cashier FaryalMumtaz, security guard Asher Majeed and messenger Qamer Shahzadi till June 3 while the banking court, Faisalabad, extended their pre-arrest bail till May 29.

Three arrested persons, ex-manager Amanat Ali, operations manager Noman Akram and journalist Imran, were sent to judicial lock-up while Javed Iqbal, security guard, was already there. The bank goldsmith had reportedly fled to the UAE.

FIA SHO Ajmal Hussain told Dawn the agency is presently investigating six applications but Dawn learnt from reliable sources that FIA had received 40 applications from account holders.

The situation has got so embarrassing that the zonal chief office is found locked from inside even on working days so that no account holder could approach the office with another complaint.

The zonal chief refused to meet this correspondence. A source close to the situation at Lahore head office said the final audit report would be presented to the bank president within a week.