Reference no: EM132353744

Assessment Case study - Speak Up Case

A speak-up compliant from a whistleblower

One of the staff members at a Collection department (unknown whistleblower) of a large International Bank - XYZ Bank raised allegations against two other collection staff members handling repossessed vehicles, Mr Red, Staff no 1234 and his line manager Mr Blue, staff no 5678. The allegations are as under:

Allegation 1 -

1. Mr Red, normally requests the bidders to write his /her bid in front of him, hence being able to oversee the bid amount.

2. Both Mr Red and Mr Blue put bids by parties related to them, (Indian National, or Philippine national related to Mr Blue or his brother and friends at other banks). Although the opening bids is arranged by the representatives from Credit but the allegation is that in some cases the collection staff informed the credit staff that the successor bidders have changed their mind hence going to the second or third best bidders which is the bidder related to them. Example given was a repossessed car sold to Mr Round, friend of Mr Blue.

3. Allegation that Mr Blue has been buying cars directly from customers during the last period where the Bank stopped sale of repossessed cars, by offering lesser amount to customers and then getting approval for shortfalls from the Head of Credit and Collection for the Bank to absorb the loss. No reference of vehicles were provided but may be investigated independently.

Allegation 2 -

4. Allegation that Mr Red receives payment of USD 100 in cash from the customers buying the repossessed cars and then charging the same to the loan account using the receipt issued by the Traffic department. An example given is loan no. ABC1111L. (reprinted copies)

5. In some cases the outstanding fines are paid by the new buyers of the repossessed cars, but again the receipts from Traffic Directorate are used to claim the same amount under the loan claiming that these fines where paid by the Bank's clearing agent (Mr White). Example given is the car sold to AZ, where traffic fines of USD 50 & USD 75 were paid by him but the same amount and more have been paid to the clearing agent for the same vehicle. Loan reference to other possible cases given are as under:

• ABC2222L;
• ABC3333L
• ABC4444L

6. Allegation that both Mr Red and Mr Blue have arrangement with the Bank's clearing agent - Mr White to pay him more and then to share the same between them.

Allegation 3 -

7. In a number of cases the good car plate numbers have been either directly or indirectly transferred to both Mr Red and Mr Blue, examples given vehicle number DX 1001 in the name of Mr Red related to repossessed car from the customer, Mr Ajay (loan No. ABC 5555L), and vehicle number DX 2002 in the name of Mr Blue, related to repossessed customer , Mr Mohammed (loan ABC 6666L), the name of which was not available at the time of reporting.

Allegation 4 -

8. Allegation that both Mr Red and Mr Blue instruct staff to hold payment received in cash or cheques the last working day of the month to the following month, even when the cash is received before the closures of branch cash unit, this is to adjust the total recovery numbers for the following month. This could be investigated for cash held overnight for more than one day and cheques held for longer period. Example - Cheque for USD 2500 received from the customer named Mr Wendy has been held from month end to date. (deposit directly in CDM machines and receipt books, cash receipt vs deposit date, interview with collectors, CB receipts to be held at branch cash unit, serially numbered)

Allegation 5 -

9. Allegation that Mr Blue is receiving complementary car park from the company where repossessed cars are held, yet claiming for car park every month. Other expenses being claimed could be investigated which may include telephone credit and fuel cost.

10. Similar allegations against Mr Red for claiming excessive telephone credit and fuel cost that are approved by his line manager Mr Blue.

Investigation - As the lead investigator at XYZ Bank, this compliant has been forwarded to you for investigation. Kindly address the following:

• What will be your first step?
• Please prepare a detailed investigation plan highlighting the areas you will cover, the overall approach to the investigation, list of interviews, forensic resource requirements, time-plan, investigation protocols etc;
• Please be creative as far as possible, make valid assumptions and prepare a professional investigation report highlighting the work undertaken and your findings based on analysis and information obtained from interviews;
• Please state your conclusions in the final report and also provide any value additions/ recommendations that the Senior Management should look into implementing in the near future to avoid/ prevent such issues.

Note - This is a bank case study. No count words is required. Just to understand the case and give solutions based on the case and allegations. This is related to job interview things and mind thinking.