LIFE ABROAD – Part 33:
CRIME THRILLER FILM ACTION INSIDE LANKAN BANK
It may sound strange but the opportunity has arisen to write about an
alarming incident that had taken place inside a prominent bank in
Colombo where a human life could have lost due to a boneheaded, stupid
exercise performed by the Bank’s Management which simply boils down to
confirm that though some bankers’ brains are tuned to figures the
commonsense appears to be much desired!
During a pow wow with some of my old friends in London, Reggie
Fernando, Anura Hegoda, Daya Ananda Ranasinghe, Douglas Wickremaratne
and Sirira Chandrasekera etc, at Lihiniya Restaurant in Cricklewood, on
a rather chilly afternoon which cannot certainly be called ‘London
summer in June’, the latter came out with the repulsive story on a
Kirulapone bank (Name withheld - available on request) where a foolhardy
act of a fake robbery (security- drill) on March 27, 2013, at 2.50 pm
had nearly cost a human life.
High drama
According to Sisira, the SLBC UK Correspondent in London, his former
colleague and friend (name withheld), a Senior Technical Officer at the
SLBC had been queuing up at the Kirulapone branch to deposit some money
when two armed men, appeared to be robbers, had entered the bank
building at breakneck speed. One of them had come up to his friend (who
was a heart patient) and pointed a revolver at his head while the other
‘robber’ pretended to hold up another customer in the queue; no one from
outside the bank had bothered to enter the building due to the
obstruction. This traumatic drama had lasted for fifteen minutes.
I spoke to the victim in Sri Lanka on the phone upon hearing this
incident. According to him the manager of the bank had emerged after the
operation and pronounced it as ‘just an off the record security exercise
organised by the bank’ and apologized to the customers stating: “You are
OK aren’t you”?
Heart patient
The irony of the whole saga is that the victim is a heart patient and
at any moment during that imprudent act he could have dropped dead on
the bank floor! Although the bank had taken it quite lightly, the victim
has had to undergo treatment subsequently under a specialist
cardiologist for a week at an unwarranted expense! Sisira Chandraseka
says he did write to the Head Office of the Bank concerned from London
on behalf of his friend highlighting this ‘life-threatening’ act which
placed two innocent customers’ lives at risk as a direct result of such
a fake security drill.
Piece of mind
In his submission to the Bank concerned he had put in writing, I
quote, “Your manager has apologized at that moment but did not care
about the welfare and lives of those two who were at gun point. Despite
the fact that it is totally unacceptable to take the public as pawns on
a chessboard and play with their valuable lives in your security
experiments, did your branch manager or those who contemplated on such a
heedless act ever bother to check whether those two targeted customers
were sufferers of heart ailments? The ruinous instant shock of holding
my friend at gun point for fifteen minutes could have easily triggered
off a massive heart attack and die on the spot, which fortunately did
not take place in this instance, may be due to a stroke of fortune! What
would have been the outcome if my friend had dropped dead on your bank
floor? Would a simple apology be enough or could any financial
compensation following his ‘death’ made any difference to his immediate
family?”
Sisira Chandrasekera says that the Bank concerned should have had the
decency to offer his friend compensation at least towards the cost of
his medication caused by the severe shock of the drama, but simply
denied stating that “he did not suffer from this incident”. When I spoke
to the victim on the phone on May 25 from London his answer was that
“the bank is still vacillating”!
Different kettle of fish
In England of course there are various health and safety maneuvers
such as fire drills conducted by individual institutions at regular
intervals in conforming to The Factories Act 1961 which consolidated
much legislation on workplace health, safety and welfare in Great
Britain. Though as of 2008 some of it remains in force, it has largely
been superseded by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and
regulations made under it.
The Act continues to have a legal importance as cases of chronic
workplace exposure to hazards such as industrial noise, often extend
back in time beyond the current legislation. Breach of the residual
provisions is still a crime punishable on summary conviction in the
Magistrates’ Court by a fine of up to Pounds 400 or, on indictment in
the Crown Court, imprisonment for up to two years and an unlimited fine.
In the event of damage arising from a breach of the Act, there may be
civil liability for breach of statutory duty. Though no such liability
is stipulated by the Act itself, none is excluded and the facts could be
such as to give rise to a cause of action in that tort. A breach not
actionable in itself may be evidential towards a claim for common law
negligence. In particular, a criminal conviction may be given in
evidence.
The difference between what is practiced in the UK and the incident
highlighted above is that in England a prior warning is given to the
staff of the institution concerned prior to any such safety drills.
To this end, each institution appoints their own ‘wardens’ to ensure
that no one is trapped inside the building when alarm bells go. All
these are mock exercises to keep everyone on alert in case of a real
emergency situation for the sake of safety aspect at all times.
What the bank in question has done in this instance is quite out of
the ordinary and no one has ever heard of such an operation in any part
of the world except seen on American action films!
If the bank had wanted to imitate such drama seen on the silver
screen then they should have either informed all parties involved or
employed actors to play the part of villain and the hero both, without
harassing the innocent customers at health risks.
The victim in this case has volunteered to come before any authority
to explain the extent of shock and the suffering he had to undergo with
bills of added medical expenses having waited patiently for so long.
Any further details on this ‘American Action’ style operation could
be had from the horse’s mouth or his friend Sisira Chandrasekera, who on
his part has willingly given his email address to be quoted as
[email protected] for anyone to contact him.
(The above is a true incident that has taken place on March 27 at a
Bank at Kirulapone which no other banks should ever try to emulate in
similar fashion.)
[email protected]
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