Police hunt clerk after NT$16 million ATM cash is stolen

By Rich Chang  /  STAFF REPORTER

Sun, Feb 05, 2006 - Page 2

Police yesterday said they are hunting a Taiwan Business Bank clerk suspected of involvement in the theft of NT$16 million (US$477,600) from a branch in Taichung County during the Lunar New Year holiday, the latest in a series of robberies during the vacation.

Robbers made off with more than NT$8 million and wounded two security guards on Friday in two separate incidents at a Taipei County bank and Taitung County RT-MART supermarket. Suspects in the Taipei County case were rounded up by police late on Friday night.

A press statement from the Taichung County Police Department alleged yesterday that a 39-year-old bank clerk, Wang Chih-sheng (王志生), had left the country with a large amount of stolen money.

Wang apparently stole the cash from four ATMs at a Taiwan Business Bank branch in Taiping City (太平), Taichung County, where he worked as a clerk. His job involved stocking ATMs with cash, police said.

Wang made off with the money on Wednesday, but the bank only found out about the shortfall on Friday, the first day of business after the New Year holiday.

The bank immediately called all staff to the bank to investigate the matter but discovered that Wang had fled, police added.

They said that Wang left Taiwan on Wednesday immediately after taking the cash.

Wang purposely left some cash in the four ATMs so that the problem was not discovered earlier, said police.

Police suspect that Wang may have had accomplices as the bank's regulations state that operators must fill the machines in the presence of two other staff members. However, bank staff told police that Wang might have done it himself because of lax enforcement of the bank's rules.

After questioning other members of the bank's staff, the police said they had failed to identify any accomplices.

Wang had worked for the bank for more than ten years, according to the police and likely chose that period for his crime because of the loose management during the holiday, the police said.

Wang's parents,who live in Miaoli County (苗栗), told police yesterday that their son had given no indication of having committed a crime.

"He said nothing to me and looked no different while he was at home during the New Year holiday," Wang's father said.

As usual, his son gave children in his family red envelopes, and he was not aware that his son had any financial problems, Wang's father said. Police said Wang has a criminal record for gambling, and that he might have stolen the money to pay off gambling debts.