Kaspi bank sets $500 000 bounty and gets hundreds of confessions

Kaspi bank has set a bounty of half a million dollars for information about the source of rumors that dealt a harsh blow to t 3 large Kazakhstan banks Kaspi bank, Alliance Bank and CenterCredit banks. The buzz about the bank’s imminent run down spreading via texts messages got thousands of people withdrawing their deposits and storming ATMs causing huge losses to the banks.

Kaspi Bank Chairman of the Board Vyacheslav Kim has given a press-conference where he told about the progress in the investigation and the story that people make up to get their hands on the bounty.

“We’ve got more than 1000 letters of different kinds. They range from the beaten “I want to confess committing this crime” to much more peculiar versions. I’ve read a Facebook post these day that said that the half-a-million dollar bounty set by Kaspi bank reminded the Kazakhstan community about the soviet times of Lavrentiy Beriya, when everyone was sneaking squeaking about each other. Now we are getting cases with people coming and saying: ‘You know, my neighbor, a young men, I always see him using various electronic gadgets. I am sure it was he who did this’.”
However, the largest portion of the messages says the dodgy “I possess some information on your case, but I need guarantees.”

The bank has a special team that analysis all the incoming messages and separates wheat from weeds.

Speaking about the suspect pool, the chairman pointed at other Kazakhstan and non-Kazakhstan banks, but added that it could be anyone, any common criminal.

According to the Governor of the National bank of Kazakhstan, the situation “is noting out of the ordinary. It is a provocation”, but Kazakhstan should learn the lesson and “be ready to handle such unusual attempts of destabilization of its financial system”.