Greek Banker Arrested For Gambling Clients Savings
Banking and Gambling just doesnt mix. One Greek banker found out the hard way by gambling away his clients money and we are talking a lot of money.
Seriously arent there checks and balances for this type of things in Greece.
Greek police arrested a bank manager from the small Aegean island of Leros on Friday after he gambled away in casinos more than 1 million euros (790,000 pounds) embezzled from his clients’ savings and bank bonds.
Police said the 58-year-old man ran the local branch of the National Bank of Greece, the country’s largest lender, on the remote island of fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. He had travelled to casinos across Greece for four months to bet the stolen money.
“He was always losing,” said a police official, who asked not to be identified. “Every time he played a small amount of money to break even, he lost it, so the next time he had to take a little bit more.”
When savers asked to withdraw their money, the bank manager told them it was locked in long-term deposits and could not be withdrawn immediately, police said.
His activities were uncovered when clients presented a court case, prompting investigators to review the bank’s accounts.
Leros forms part of the Dodecanese archipelago and lies off the coast of Turkey, some 320 km (200 miles) from Athens.
Greeks are a nation of enthusiastic gamblers and the national gaming monopoly OPAP is Europe’s biggest betting firm.