The Social Protection Contributors’ Advisory Association Malaysia says confining the probe to the individuals involved is akin to dealing with the symptom and ignoring the cause.
PETALING JAYA: A workers’ rights group has called on the central bank to probe the five financial institutions used by an international scam syndicate and to make the findings public.
Confining the probe to the individuals involved was insufficient, the Social Protection Contributors’ Advisory Association Malaysia (SPCAAM) said.
“It is a case of dealing with the symptom and ignoring the cause,” its international labour adviser Callistus Antony D’Angelus said in a statement.
D’Angelus said “inefficient” compliance, risk management and control mechanisms of the banks involved allowed the syndicate to penetrate the system.
Bank Negara Malaysia should therefore probe these banks.
“Accountability should reside at the highest levels of the banks involved – at the office of the CEOs.”
On Wednesday, BNM governor Nor Shamsiah Yunus said the five banks were not being probed, and that the investigation would only focus on the individuals involved.
She said BNM had directed banks to put in place strong controls to safeguard the integrity of the financial system.
These measures include complying with the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla) requirements, carrying out proper customer due diligence, and ongoing monitoring of suspicious activities.
She said this in response to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission busting an international scam syndicate last week under an operation codenamed Ops Tropicana.
It was reported that at least 20 employees of five major local banks – including auditors and frontline officers – had facilitated such syndicates to open accounts without any hassle.
These accounts were then used by scammers to collect cash deposited by deceived victims, with daily transactions of up to RM1 million.