Court chairman Zulbahrin Zainuddin ruled that the dismissal of claimant Siti Farhana Adnan violated the Industrial Relations Act 1967 as it was without just cause or excuse.
He ordered Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation (M) Bhd to pay Siti Farhana a total of RM105,670 in back wages and salary in lieu of reinstatement for the wrongful dismissal.
The court said the fraudulent gold transaction was initiated by the bank’s relationship manager who had instructed his subordinates to check and approve transactions based on a “recycled copy” of a client’s biometrics, claiming he would get a fresh copy for the bank’s records later.
“From the testimonies of the officers in the internal inquiry, it is clear that the actions of the claimant did not ignore the standard operating procedures but she instead did it in good faith guided by the belief that the relationship manager had taken all the necessary steps before checking the transaction,” he said in an award issued last week and sighted by FMT.
Zulbahrin said the investigations had confirmed that the modus operandi of the manager concerned was to manipulate and cheat using recycled biometrics, adding that he had confessed to carrying out other gold investments belonging to the bank’s clients without their permission nor knowledge.
The chairman said police investigations into the fraudulent sales had also cleared Siti Farhana of any illegal activity, adding that she did not plot with the manager for any financial benefit but simply carried out her tasks honestly.
Zulbahrin said although the manager had very strong influence and the authority to deal with clients directly, the bank’s branch head had absolute control over all the staff, including the manager in question.
“As such, the failure to implement measures to avoid this fraud showed the branch manager had failed to ensure proper SOPs were in place to prevent (it),” he said.
“Thus the decision of the bank to consider this a major matter to terminate the services of the claimant is too extreme and against the values of natural justice.”
K Gunaseelan, of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, appeared for Siti Farhana, while N Sivabalah and Reena Enbasegaram appeared for the defendant.