Four held for withdrawing Rs.43 mn after printing forged cheque book | Daily News

Four held for withdrawing Rs.43 mn after printing forged cheque book

Bank employee also in CID custody

Four suspects were arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in connection with withdrawing Rs.43 million from a private bank after producing forged cheques in the name of a steel manufacturing company.

Police Media Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana said that a particular steel manufacturing company had realized that Rs.43 million had been withdrawn from a bank account maintained by the company in a private bank soon after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

The company had lodged a complaint with the CID and the CID had carried out special investigations in respect of a fraud of Rs.43 million and that this particular incident had taken place on April 12.

It was revealed that a third party had printed a forged cheque book similar to the one issued to the company by the bank.The perpetrators had sent five persons to cash the forged cheques dressed in the uniform of the particular company at the branches of the private bank. Investigations had been initiated and four suspects have been arrested in this connection including the main suspect, a 37-year-old person, who has been identified as the printer of these forged cheques.

The main suspect had been arrested in the Hanwella area while his accomplice, a 51-year-old person who had arrived in Sri Lanka on April 5 from the United Kingdom, had been arrested in the Ranala area.

In addition to that a bank employee who works for the same bank where the company’s account exists has also been arrested in connection with this fraud.

The CID has also arrested one of the individuals who had visited a branch of the bank to cash one of these forged cheques. He has been identified as a 27-year-old, a resident of Veyangoda and an executive of a private company. DIG Ajith Rohana said that four more suspects, who had visited bank branches to cash the forged cheques and are now absconding, have been identified while special teams have been deployed to arrest them. Further investigations are continuing.