A woman who had been paying a weekly partner of $5,000 for the last 12 months has not been able to collect her money which has been due since the end of December last year.

According to the woman, the banker has been giving her different stories about the money and is sometimes verbally abusive.

The woman outlined that in January last year, the banker who is a higgler, came to several other higglers and told them of the plan to start a partner for $5,000 weekly. She said 12 of them, including the banker were in the partner. The draw was on a monthly basis and they should each have been given $120,000 monthly.

"The banker started acting funny towards the three of us who were due draws from September to December", the woman disclosed.

"The person who was go get her draw in September was told that the banker had problems collecting from the other persons in the partner. The person who was to be paid in November was told a similar story and when my time came for my draw at the end of December, the banker told me that some people said they could not afford to pay the money.

private matter

"I know all the persons in the partner and I asked the banker to tell me who are the persons who have refused to pay and she says that is a private matter so she cannot tell me.

"I confronted her two weeks ago and told her that it was not a secret because if other persons in the partner got my money and now refuse to pay she should tell me so I can talk to them and find out the problem. I asked her to give me what she collected in December but she tells me she cannot give me part payment.

"When I told the story to family members they said they feel that the woman is not telling me the truth. I decided to do detective work and so I went to all the persons in the partner and asked them if they owed any money. They all took out their receipts and showed me that they had all paid the money and the banker gave them receipts. They said they were willing to hand over their receipts if I wanted to go to the police.

"I went back to the banker and told her that I was shown the receipts and she said the receipts must have been forged. Now three of us are left without our money and we are wondering if the banker could be charged," the woman said.

(Reply):

It is a criminal offence for a banker to collect partner money and refuse to pay it over. You should report the matter to the police immediately so that the matter can be investigated, and a decision taken as to whether the banker must be charged.