KUCHING: Opposition chief Chong Chieng Jen is taking up a new cause – he is going after the banks.
In a statement on Sunday (May 29) he vented his frustrations on the banking institution, claiming it was unfair of banks to be not accountable for losses suffered by depositors.
“Of late, there are many reports of depositors having their money stolen from their bank accounts without their knowledge,” said Chong, who is DAP’s state chief.
“In most of the cases, the banks refused to reimburse these depositors for their losses. Such attitude and position taken by banks is most unfair to the public,” he said.
“Due to fraud by a third party, money was lost, and the question to ask is ‘who should bear the loss?’.
“In all fairness, the bank should bear the loss and one of the reasons is the bank is in the position to beef up their internet security system and provide more internet security to the bank accounts of their customers,” he said.
Towards this end he said if the banks are made to pay for such losses due to their banking system being hacked they will invest more to provide more security to their systems and their customers’ bank accounts.
“The security systems of the banks will not improve if banks are allowed to push the responsibility to their customers,” he said.
Chong said with the rise in banking fraud cases of late, Bank Negara Malaysia must act immediately to direct all banks to absorb such losses.
“It is most unfair that members of the public be made to suffer because of the weakness of the bank’s security system,” he said.
Chong’s outburst followed a complaint from an account holder who claimed to have lost RM32,000 through 14 internet bank transfers from his account to two separate accounts within 15 minutes.
He said a report was lodged on the loss of his (victim) savings and the bank approached to recover his loss.
However, the bank denied all responsibility and refused to compensate him for his loss, he added.
