Bank of Baroda foils 6m/- fraud
 
2005-09-30 10:42:15
By Judica Tarimo

	The Bank of Baroda building in Dar es Salaam where an attempt to fraudulently withdraw 6m/- was foiled yesterday.

Police have arrested an unidentified woman who had attempted to defraud the Bank of Baroda of 6m/- using a counterfeit cheque.

Senior official of the bank who declined to give his name said the incident occurred at around 1pm in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The official said three people wanted to withdraw the money from an account held by Tumaini Hospital.

Dar es Salaam Regional Police Commander, Alfred Tibaigana, confirmed the foiled fraud saying the woman was arrested and is helping the police with investigations.

The names of the suspects and the account number from which the money was being withdrawn were not given.

’’We managed to arrest the woman. She is a notorious fraudster, who has several pending court cases involving previous forgery incidents,’’ said Tibaigana.

According to RPC, the woman was out on bail pending the completion of the investigations.

He said that after receiving a call from the Bank of Baroda, he dispatched a team of policemen to the scene of the crime.

’’Investigations are still going on, but we arrested the woman and are now looking for her accomplices,’’said Tibaigana.

Bank officials said the woman entered the bank in a bid to receive the money and left her accomplices outside.

Before she could encash the forged cheque, a bank worker detected the forgery.

’’A member of staff (a woman) knows the Tumaini Hospital worker who usually comes to deposit and withdraw money,’’ said the official.

’’But she was surprised when she saw a new face coming to transact for the hospital.

She informed our security officers and phoned the Central Police Station. The police came and arrested the woman,’’ he said.

The other accomplices melted into thin air when they realised that their colleague had been arrested.

Commenting on previous crimes committed by the woman suspect, Tibaigana said that she once posed as a teacher and member staff of a company and secured loans worth millions of shillings from the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and Tunakopesha Ltd, respectively.

• SOURCE: Guardian