Former Manager Admits Stealing $2.3M From Canadia Bank
The former manager of Canadia Bank’s credit section has admitted to stealing $2.3 million from the bank’s accounts, the suspect’s lawyer said Tuesday, in what is one of the largest embezzlement schemes ever undertaken in Cambodia’s nascent banking industry. The testimony from Yeth Sopheaktra, 30, to municipal court investigating Judge Suos Sam Ath contradicts police reports, which said that she had withdrawn money from accounts at the ABA and SBC banks before depositing the money at Canadia Bank. According to those police reports, Ms. Sopheaktra allegedly masterminded a six-month-long scheme in which she and at least three accomplices used five fraudulent credit cards to withdraw up to $100,000 a week from ATMs in Phnom Penh. … The inside job orchestrated by Ms. Sopheaktra amounted to possibly the largest fraud that Cambodia’s banking sector has ever seen, said Stephen Higgins, the former CEO of ANZ Royal Bank. “It is by far the biggest fraud I have heard of in Cambodia, but most banks around the world have staff fraud of some description. It becomes the cost of doing business, but you hope it is not this big,” he said. Mr. Higgins added that it was “extraordinary” if it is true that Ms. Sopheaktra was able to steal $2.3 million from five accounts using credit cards before being detected. …
Eang Mengleng and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/former-manager-admits-stealing-2-3m-from-canadia-bank-44689/
