A couple were cleared of defrauding the BOV San Gwann branch of €40,000 today after a magistrate ruled that the bank made a "grand and cardinal" mistake when it assigned their safety deposit box to another couple.

Maria and Victor Xuereb, who had faced the charges, had been using safety deposit box 79 blue for about 10 years. Then, on September 5 2010, they received a phone call from the bank informing them that the bank had mistakenly assigned the same box to Anthony and Mary Rose Mangion.

Some time after first being assigned the box, the Mangions claimed that they found American dollars that did not belong to them. They said they had placed €40,000 in the box and nothing was missing.

But when the Xuerebs went to check out the box they said that their €40,000 were missing. They said they also had a small amount of American dollars that were still in the safety deposit box.

The bank had recognised that this was its mistake and, given the good relationship it had with the Xuerebs, it gave them the benefit of the doubt and refunded the €40,000 to them. Meanwhile, the manager responsible for the mistake was demoted to supervisor.

Magistrate Carol Peralta heard how on March 29 2011 - a year after the matter - the Xuerebs were approached by police who said they were investigating the case.

Police Inspector Joseph Mercieca, prosecuting, said police had not received a request to investigate by the bank. The Police Commissioner had ordered the investigation. Magistrate Peralta said he was "very worried" by the fact that police investigated the Xuerebs - when the bank gave them the benefit of the doubt - and did not equally investigate the Mangions.

He cleared the Xuerebs of the charges.
Lawyer Lucio Sciriha represented the Xuerebs.