A man who claims he had €70,000 fraudulently withdrawn from his BOV investment account last July is demanding that the bank refunds his money. 

In a judicial protest, the man said he invested € 100,000 in a fund managed by Valletta Fund Services Limited, a BOV subsidiary, in July 2014. 

Shortly after, €70,000 of this investment was sent to a bank in Indonesia, unbeknownst to him. 

On 18 July 2014 the man received an e-mail from BOV about a request it has received to redeem his investment.  The man advised BOV that no such request had been made, and asked the bank for a copy of the instructions it had received. 

Two sets of fraudulent instructions were sent by an unknown third-party asking for the funds to be transferred to a foreign account.  He ordered the bank not to process any instructions in this regard. The third-party was using all the confidential details given by the man to BOV. 

It was only in January 2015 that the man noticed BOV had processed the fraudulent instructions and transferred €70,000 from his investment account to a bank account in Indonesia. 

The police were informed about the fraudulent transfer but attempts by the Economic Crimes Unit to trace the funds were unsuccessful. 

The man demanded in the judicial protest filed in court that BOV repays the €70,000 within two weeks, and pay for ensuing damages and losses suffered by the man.

Lawyer Alessandro Lia signed the judicial protest.