Investigators in Pakistan say they are looking into several new fraud cases, including at least one that is said to have used fake letters of credit (L/Cs).

The move comes in the wake of criticism that in Pakistan's investigators and even financial institutions themselves have been slow to launch probes into alleged financial crimes.

New cases

Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) says it is looking into several new fraud cases.

One of these is a probe into a company called S B Hosiery and its CEO and director Muhammad Ikram for alleged misappropriation and forgery.

The CEO and directors of SB Hosiery allegedly negotiated 33 fake export bills amounting to the equivalent of more than US$4.5 million against fake and bogus L/Cs presented at a Faisalabad bank.

Earlier reports

Earlier this year reports emerged from the Faisalabad region that a financial institution had yet to act on a separate alleged L/C fraud that appears to have cost it the equivalent of more than US$5 million.

That alleged scam is reported to have involved two exporters and the management of a financial institution (DCWorld News, 18 April 2008).

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