BRIEFS. fraud

Bad checks linked to bank employees

LA PRENSA

Scam:Banco Nacional employees are suspects in a check scheme. 978102

The Fiscalía Tercera Anticorrupción charged four people of allegedly issuing checks to cover "fictitious" expenses at the Banco Nacional de Panamá (Banconal).

At least two of the four suspects are Banconal employees, and one of them is the operations manager.

Chief prosecutor Yolanda Austin told TPC-Radio yesterday that the illegitimate checks were discovered by an internal group created by Banconal in 2000 to detect potential cases of fraud.

The group discovered at least $412,000 in checks were written for expenses at branches across the country that apparently were never incurred.