Kalistan

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Executives of Bank of Suldanor Arrested
Private Corporate Bank alleged to be "Rife with Corruption" said Justice Minister
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
September 14, 5691


Kincaid and Cohen, two VPs of Bank of Suldanor, arrested in Sulari in Connection with corruption probe

Two high level bank vice presidents, Charles Kincaid and Johnathan Cohen, have been arrested in connection with the deepening Bookmakers Probe. Both men were heads of their respective departments which are now being implicated in the scandal: Kincaid is in charge of accounts and Cohen is in charge of records. Their arrests last week were following by quick grand jury indictments of tampering with Bank Records, falsifying bank records and conspiracy to commit fraud. They may also be facing additional charges as the investigation goes on.

The new head of the Sulari Special Investigations Division, Police Captain Alberto Zarate, said the city retains discretion over what the two bankers are being charged with. "Continuing our investigation, we discovered not only significant deletions of information from bank records which were presented to the state in our investigation, but also several accounts which we couldn't trace to commercial users. These records were off the books and received deposits authorized by Mr. Kincaid, money which was then withdrawn over rapid intervals by an unregistered user who primarily drew off the funds in the form of counter checks. Mr. Cohen was responsible to ensure that this activity was covered up in monthly, quarterly and annual registers."

Zarate said the sentences he will be asking for from the Justice Ministry, if these two are found guilty depends upon their cooperation with the Investigation. "Right now, we have an idea where this trail is headed to, but there is nowhere near enough evidence to successfully try these crimes in court, nor to uncover who is really behind them. But everything we have right now suggests that it is not just the Bookmakers, and it is not just the Casinos and betting parlors in Sulari and across the Empire, and it is not just the Bank of Suldanor, which apparently was acting as an active participant in a much larger program. Something else, which we can't get to right now is benefitting from, is the motive force behind all this corruption, and we will keep making arrests until we find someone who will talk."

Her Imperial Majesty's Minister of Justice Hon. Gale Wilson commented on the probe: "One things we can say that we believe right now, is that the issue is a national, or perhaps an international problem. International actors have long used Kalistan as a place to hide their money. We have legal ways for them to accomplish this-- The ForIn, for example is one such way, with complete bank account secrecy. But this is only for Foreign Investors, as the name suggests. The operations of ForIn are segregated from the Kalistani economy. The problem with this corruption at this level going through the Bank of Suldanor is that this commercial bank has a large enough role in the investment and finance sectors of the Kalistani economy that it could theoretically affect our economy, and that becomes a problem for Her Imperial Majesty's Government. We rely on the trust of the people of this nation in our institutions, and an institution rife with corruption as the Bank of Suldanor appears to be, at the top at least, shakes that faith."

As evidence of that shaken faith, Bank of Suldanor stock in the KalSiE dropped below ₭70 Imperial Rubles a share for the first time this week, as investors are moving to the Bank of Kaliburg, which is not implicated in the scandal. "If BoS wants to stop this hemorrhaging, perhaps they will come clean and hand the investigation more names so we can investigate," said the Hon Justice Wilson. "Somebody in that organization knows something. Also, someone in the Bookmakers Association knows something. We need to know who hired you, who is the financial beneficiary. And so far people have been quite unwilling to talk to us, out of fear, perhaps of reprisal from organized crime. But we need testimony to go after them, and until we get that testimony, this probe will continue, we will continue arresting bankers tied to these accounts, we will continue to arrest bagmen that are associated with these accounts, and we will continue to go after all leads we have. Someone will talk eventually, and that could be the thing that blows this whole case open."

The Sulari Special Investigation Division has set up an anonymous tip line. "So far we've gotten some prank phone calls," said Zarate. "We're trying to cut down on those, but if you will call the line I', hoping you have something to contribute. We have gotten almost no credible leads, but it is still very early days yet." Both Kincaid and Cohen have entered "Not guilty" pleas in at the arraignment, and are being held in custody pending additional charges.

@TheRepublic