Court Orders MCB to Pay Rs1.5M to Client Over Unauthorized Withdrawals

Former United Nations liaison officer Berty Nayna has emerged victorious in his legal battle against the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) after years of distress and effort. This case, which has trailed through the courts, saw significant progress before Justice Jane Lau Yuk Poon at the Supreme Court.

The saga dated back to 2019, when Mr Nayna, now residing in London, returned to Mauritius to discover alarming discrepancies in his bank accounts.

With two accounts at the MCB—one in US dollars for his retirement pension and the other in Mauritian rupees—he was horrified to find a succession of unauthorised withdrawals draining his funds.

Juice by MCB

Upon reviewing his bank statements during a visit in July 2019, he found that his accounts had been depleted through the Juice application, a service he never requested.

From 3 January 2018 to 25 July 2019, a staggering Rs 1,260,000 was siphoned from his accounts through multiple withdrawals of Rs 10,000 each, with transactions recorded as frequently as 16 times a day.

Frustrated by the bank’s lack of action to recover his money, Mr Nayna felt compelled to take matters into his own hands, hiring lawyer Mᵉ Siv Potayya and Senior Attorney Vijay Dwarka to represent him.

He sought restitution of Rs 1,260,000, as well as moral damages amounting to Rs 1,700,000, and brought his case before the commercial division of the Supreme Court.

Last week marked a pivotal moment in this long-running ordeal, as Mr Nayna was finally granted justice.

MCB agreed to reimburse him Rs 1,500,000, covering the full amount misappropriated along with payment for moral damages.

Responding to requests for comment on the ruling, MCB’s press office stated:

“We contest Mr Nayna’s account of events, overlooking key elements that form the basis of our defence.

As a client of our institution, we are bound by confidentiality obligations and therefore refrain from any further comment.”

Source: l’Express