In a major fraud at the National Development Bank (NDB) in Sri Lanka, employees, possibly working with outsiders, stole about Rs 13 billion. The fraud was carefully planned and carried out using electronic transfers, especially during weekends when monitoring was weaker. Because of this, the transactions were not detected in time.
The incident is considered one of the biggest banking frauds in Sri Lanka. It has been compared to other large global bank frauds because it involved people with deep knowledge of banking systems and internal processes.
Investigations show that multiple small transactions were made repeatedly, which helped avoid immediate detection. Several suspects, including a bank assistant manager, have been arrested, and a forensic audit is now being conducted to understand exactly what happened.
Financially, the fraud has had a serious impact on the bank. It caused a large quarterly loss and is bigger than the bank’s previous annual profit. Even though the bank says customer deposits are safe and normal operations continue, experts believe the bank’s reputation and future earnings will be affected.
The case has also raised serious concerns about weak internal controls, poor auditing, and failures in management oversight. Experts say the problem was not a lack of technology, but a failure to properly use and monitor existing security systems. It is believed that insiders may have worked together to bypass controls.
There are also concerns that the stolen money may have been moved through less regulated channels, possibly including cryptocurrency, which would make it very difficult to recover.
Overall, the incident has highlighted major weaknesses in governance and security within the banking system. It has led to calls for stricter regulations, better monitoring, and stronger accountability to prevent such frauds in the future.