Two employees of Montenegrin Commercial Bank have "withdrawn" more than 14 million euros from their clients' accounts through the private banking service, the suspicions of the Management of CKB, which they submitted in a criminal complaint to the police and the Special State Prosecutor's Office.
Television Vijesti announced that the CKB filed a complaint against officials Pavle Laković and Daliborka Spasojević.
"Vijesti" has learned that the bank's management believes that two employees, allegedly, as authorized private bankers, used their official position and illegally opened the accounts of almost 200 users of CKB's private banking package, where they had the authority to dispose of clients' money and take care of all financial instruments within the banking system.
CKB started with the system of private banking and investment services (CKB PBIS) in 2016, based on world banking standards, where the bank's clients were offered the option of having direct contact with a private banker, at any time, to manage their finances - payments traffic, cards, loans, deposits...
Through that package, CKB offered that the private banker helps clients in the investment part - trading of securities on domestic and foreign stock exchanges, weekly financial analyzes of companies or offers...
Through a private banker, clients had the opportunity to complete banking activities by phone or e-mail, and to carry out transactions in agreement with a personal private banker, using an identification code, even when they are not able to immediately visit a bank branch.
CHECKS STARTED...
Deputy Chief Special Prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic he confirmed to "Vijesta" that the Special State Prosecutor's Office opened a case after the Management of CKB Bank submitted a criminal complaint to them over the weekend.
"We opened the reconnaissance and started with checks. At this moment, I cannot provide more details, and we will inform the public when the conditions are met", Čađenović said briefly.
The management of CKB filed a criminal complaint in which they stated suspicions that two employees over a long period of time, by abusing their official position in business operations, allegedly appropriated at least 14 million euros, which they "removed" from the accounts of around 200 clients.
"Vijesti" has learned that in the criminal complaint, the Management of CKB Bank provided scant information about suspicions of abuse within the system, and the key steps for the prosecutors and the police will be to determine where the millions of clients ended up, allegedly taken away by CKB's private bankers and to find out how the abuse was done.
The key will be to find out who in the bank's system was involved in the embezzlement, i.e. to determine - how is it possible that, in addition to numerous internal and external business controls inside and outside the bank, employees allegedly managed to take millions from clients' accounts for a long period of time . Within the CKB there are several levels of money flow control, as well as departments that are solely responsible for monitoring all suspicious transactions, as well as compliance with domestic and international legislation in the banking system. The bank has also had an internal auditor since 2008, so it will be interesting for the investigators to discover the possible abuse of the bank's system and who was involved.
In addition, the work of the banks is also controlled by the Central Bank of Montenegro, which, within the domain of its legal powers, got involved in checking the misuse of millions. Insiders claim that if the money of around 200 clients ended up somewhere abroad, then it will be very difficult to return the millions to the owners, that is, the bank, which emphasized that it will "compensate the damage to the clients".
CBCG: WE DETERMINE OMISSIONS
The Central Bank (CBCG) announced that the misuse of client's money in CKB Bank will not endanger its operations and that in accordance with its powers, "they are undertaking activities aimed at determining deficiencies in the organization and functioning of the bank's internal control system."
"CBCG continuously exercises indirect and direct control over the operations of banks in Montenegro, including CKB, as a systemically important bank. According to all business indicators, CKB is the largest bank in Montenegro, and according to the results of indirect and direct control, its business is stable, with capitalization and liquidity parameters that are significantly above the legal minimum. "Potential abuse of official position by part of the employees, i.e. potential damage caused to the bank, based on the above, will not materially affect the stability of the bank's operations," said the supreme monetary institution.
The CBCG claims that they are in continuous communication with the bank and that they are informed about the actions taken by the CKB bank in relation to the causes and scope of the abuse.
"Banks as economic companies and their employees are aware of the obligation to act in accordance with the law and possible criminal liability in a specific case, while the CBCG, in accordance with its powers and competences, undertakes all the necessary actions and activities in order to determine errors in the organization and the functioning of the bank's internal control system, which resulted in the aforementioned abuse of official position, as well as the adequacy of the bank's actions in the aforementioned case," the announcement states.
Abuse of official position represents an isolated case which, as the CBCG claims, cannot and should not in any way affect clients' confidence in the stability and security of banks' operations, especially bearing in mind that all potential damage falls on the bank.
"The role of the Central Bank of Montenegro is to ensure that all commercial banks in Montenegro have enough capital to handle such incidents. So, in this particular case, the management of CKB has already announced that it has made a decision to settle all depositors, which means that no client will suffer damage".
CKB announced on Sunday evening that during the business control, they observed a possible abuse of the official position of some employees, which jeopardized the interests of almost 200 clients.
"As a result of the previously initiated comprehensive business control, we observed a possible abuse of official position in business operations by some of the employees. As a result of the mentioned activities, we found that the interests of approximately 200 of our clients were endangered. We have started and continue to personally contact all clients whose interests are at risk, informing them of the established facts".
And rewarded for the private banking system
Six years ago, CKB banka offered its clients a private banking system and investment service (CVB PBIS), which as a special offer offered VIP users to "enter the world of privileges" due to easier handling of money.
CKB Bank emphasized on its official website that "as proof of successful operations and client servicing, the continuous growth in the number of clients and positive feedback from users of private banking services is evidenced."
Due to the private banking system, the bank was awarded by the prestigious international institution - Global Finance for the year 2020.
CKB Bank, as a member of the OTP Group, states that it is committed to the fight against all forms of corruption and that the owners and leaders of the bank "advocate zero tolerance towards all forms of bribery and corruption".
For this reason, the bank within the system adopted an act - anti-corruption policy, which defined the principles of the bank's activities, to identify areas that are particularly exposed to the risk of corruption.
"The principles and provisions of this policy apply to the entire organization of the bank, starting from the formulation of internal regulatory acts, contracts concluded with partners to the activities of individual employees, as well as to all activities of the bank," it says on the CKB website.
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