The Pawn - Part 2

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In continuation to Part ~ 1

This question was also greeted with pin drop silence. Aisha removed her spectacles and crossed her hands on her chest with a heavy sigh. Maria knew this meant Aisha was losing her temper now. Fearing the worst she cleared her throat and said, “Madam, I will be at my desk in case you need…” 

Before she could complete she was interrupted harshly by Aisha, “Maria shut up and just stand here.” Aisha strode around the room half expecting one of them to speak up but to no avail. Finally unable to bear it she broke the silence, “Now I will prove to your guys that my secretary Maria is smarter than all of you put together! Maria, please bring in your laptop here quickly. “ 

She moved to the centre table and pulled out a bunch of papers which had the entire investigation report outlined step by step. 

FRAUD REPORT India - 2013 

Client Name: Abacus Limited 
Branch: Fort, Mumbai 
Nature of Business: Manufacturing & Impex 
AUM: 150 billion 

Transaction dates: 30th April 2013, 9th May 2013, 14th June 2013, 11th July 2013, and 25th August 2013 

Transaction in question: 14th June 2013 the client has transferred Rs. 785 crores into various accounts across the world breaking the amount into smaller denominations. The same thing repeated on 11th July 2013, this time the amount being Rs. 980 crores. And on 25th August there was a withdrawal of Rs. 50 crores in cash from the branch. 

As she finished reading the report she noticed Maria was back in the room with her laptop, waiting for her further instructions. “Maria, quick. Where was I on the 14th June, 11th July and 25th August this year?” 

Typing as quickly as she could with her nibble fingers and shivering legs Maria tried to locate the information she was asked for. “On 14th June we had a branch inauguration at Guwahati while on the 11th July we had a meeting with the RBI Governor in Delhi with rest of the banking council members. On the 25th August you were on leave Madam.” 

“Ah... Why is that so Maria?” 

“Umm… Madam you have mentioned that you had been complaining of chest pain and the doctor had advised you to get some reports done due to which you were admitted in the hospital.” 

Looking at the investigation team Aisha wondered if these people really knew what they had got into. “So does this answer your question?” Still no reply. 

She continued, “Let me clarify this also as I already doubt your dim witted brains. I would like to let you know that as a part of Compliance Rule in Zeus Bank all large transactions need to be authorized by the Zonal head, treasury head and then finally by the CEO to be processed. To authorize the same we all have been given a small gadget the size of a micro chip which every time gives us a unique 5 digit number. On entering the number the transaction is finally processed. So if I the one who according to you who committed the crime was not in the location on the day it occurred how did those events even happen? And I have all the proofs to substantiate what I am saying. Maria please look for an email dated 20th April 2013 which I had sent to the Compliance and Tech team.” 

Maria had a shocked look on her face as she did not follow what she was being told. But then working with Aisha had taught her one thing. You are not here to use your brains. You are here to just follow the orders. And that is what she did with perfection ensuring her a place in Aisha’s good books all these while. She continued the practice today by finding the mails quickly without asking any questions. Read it aloud she was instructed by Aisha. 

Dear Team, 

This is to inform you that there has been a theft at my house last night. Though there was no damage to any human life there has been a loss of valuables amounting to Rs. 4 crores including the authorization gadget as I used to wear it like a pendant in my chain. 

Request you to please a note of the same. 

Now it was time for the investigation team and Maria to be shocked. Aisha was absolutely correct in claiming she was not the one to be blamed for all these transactions. Maria remembered that day when she had come a bit late to the office which was very unlikely of her and then had narrated this whole story of theft at her house.
Maria smiled looking at Aisha with pride. She idolized her and today she had given her another reason to continue doing that. After a long pause the investigative team head Shekhar, came out of his reverie and spoke, “But Madam… if it is not you then who authorized these transactions?” Aisha collapsed on a nearby chair with a thud holding her head in her hands. 

After a bout of an uncomfortable silence she angrily said, “If I need to know all that you why were you people needed in the first place. I lost my gadget I informed the team as per the rules. If they forgot to block it or issue me a new one it is not my fault. As someone heading a country I have many other things to look into.” 

Maria was about to burst out giggling when she saw Aisha eyeing her from the corner of her eye. She regained her composure and waited for further instructions only to hear, “Maria you may leave now!”

~ To be continued in Part~ 3

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