Ambiguity Surrounds Compensation for Safe Deposit Box Theft Victims at National Bank
Following the theft of several rental safe deposit boxes at a branch of Iran’s National Bank in Tehran, the bank’s public relations department announced that it would take immediate action to fully compensate the owners for the stolen goods. However, many doubt the feasibility of this claim.
The National Bank’s public relations office issued a statement saying that “necessary coordination has been made with judicial authorities to appoint a special prosecutor to attend the scene and address the requests of claimants, and the value of stolen goods will be fully compensated.”
This claim comes as a senior banking official believes that due to the lack of documentation to verify claims and prove the contents of the safe deposit boxes, insurance companies and the bank cannot pay the damages.
According to Mohammad Reza Jamshidi, secretary of the Association of Private Banks and Credit Institutions, since the bank is unaware of the contents inside the boxes, compensation payments are only possible through an agreement between the customer and the respective bank.
He further stated that while the bank building and its assets are covered by insurance, safe deposit boxes are not included under this coverage. The bank can only pay damages to these boxes if the customer can prove how much goods or items they had stored in the box.
According to Mohammad Reza Jamshidi, insurance does not cover damage to bank safe deposit boxes unless the customer files a complaint with the bank so the matter can be investigated.
He added that since a bank representative is not present when the customer deposits items in the safe deposit box, it is impossible to prove what is actually contained in the box when an incident occurs.
However, Mohammad Reza Jamshidi emphasized that banks do have special safes for valuable items where customers can deposit their valuables and pay a storage fee, and insurance will cover the damages to those items in case of an incident.
According to ISNA, approximately 168 rental safe deposit boxes were damaged in this robbery at the National Bank branch in Tehran.
According to the head of Tehran’s Police Intelligence Bureau, several bank employees showed negligence and carelessness in preliminary investigations into this incident and are under surveillance, with investigations continuing.
Police say they are pursuing the truth about the safe deposit box theft at the National Bank, but internet users, pointing to the scale of this theft and recent political events, consider this incident to be more than just a robbery.
Source: Voice of America
