Pamela Gondwe, an employee of Barclays Bank Longacres Branch on Monday this week, disappeared with US400,000 Cash, the Watchdog has been briefed.
She recently returned from a trip to Ghana with her West African boyfriend. Pamela was one of the people entrusted with the Vault (Dollar Safe box).
Two weeks ago she went to work carrying an empty bag. She claimed that she had just bought a bag. She left the bag in the vault room. On Monday, she told a workmate at the Vault section that she had received instructions from the Head Office to get the serial numbers for all the US Dollars in the vault. They entered the Vault and started recording serial numbers. She then offered her colleague some food. The workmate went to the Staff Canteen to eat. Behind, Pamela loaded all the Dollars in the bag and hid the bag within the banking premises.
When her colleague returned, Pamela had already locked her part because two people have keys to the vault. She told her colleague that she had locked her part and was on her way to the Saloon for a quick retouch to her hair.
She then used the back door out of the bank to the alley between Puma Filling Station and the Bank through to Longacre’s market and off she went.
When she did not return, they started calling her but realised that she had left the phone. Fearing for the worst, the branch manager got the master keys and opened the vault only to find US$400, 000 has disappeared. Her phone was in the Vault. When the CCTV was reviewed, she was seen packing the money
Source: The Zambian Watchdog