JEDDAH, Jul 24 (Arab News): Riyadh police arrested an expat bank manager for stealing SR230 million from the accounts of two customers recently. The manager used to tell the customers that their deposits were safe in the bank, according to a police source.

He also issued them with account statements carrying a forged endorsement supposedly from a high-ranking bank official, the source said.

Police started investigating him when one of the customers, aged 79, became worried about the safety of his money.

He said the balance appearing on ATMs did not match the bank’s official written statements. He demanded an explanation from the bank’s administration.

He also complained that amounts had been withdrawn and then deposited in his account without his knowledge. Administrative officials, who could not find any logical explanation for the mysterious entries in the old man’s accounts, referred the complaint to police.

Detectives discovered that the branch manager of the bank had stolen SR230 million from VIP accounts at different times. The manager, who had been working in the bank for the past 30 years, was also allegedly involved in money laundering, fraud, and forgery of documents such as account statements issued to customers.

The detectives seized mobile phones and chips and property documents that appeared to prove his illegal activities from a rest house in Al-Hamrah district. The forged account statements of several customers were also discovered at the rest house.

The manager had six other alleged accomplices, including three Saudi men, a Saudi woman, another Yemeni man and a Sudanese. He is accused of making an agreement with the Saudi and Yemeni men to set up a bogus company and open accounts in a foreign bank with the aim of obtaining loans. The Sudanese man was allegedly the bogus company’s accounts manager and the woman accomplice acted as another official.

At the time of his arrest, the manager had SR200,000 in his bag and a laptop in his expensive car.

He said in his confession statement that he mostly tampered with the accounts of elderly customers and those with large balances because they might not notice small withdrawals.

He said he stole SR30 million from the account of the suspicious customer eight months ago and less than a month later stole SR130 million from another customer’s account.

He then returned the money stolen from the first account. Over the past eight months he stole a total of SR230 million from the two accounts, he admitted. However, no other customers have complained about unauthorized withdrawals.