German 'Robin Hood'

A 62-year-old German woman faced a regional court in Bonn on charges that she transferred the money of richer clients to the accounts of poorer clients while working as a manager at a local bank branch.

The court said the manager proceeded with the scheme because she did not want the bank to close customers' accounts.

To prevent this from happening, the woman is said to have used the bank's transfer system over the course of a 14-month period, between December 2003 and February 2005, to temporarily reallocate as much as 7.6 million euros ($11.4 billion) to the accounts of clients in financial difficulty.

This meant that when the bank ran checks, the accounts appeared to have adequate funds and were subsequently not closed.

Problems arose when the woman wanted to transfer back the 7.6 million euros to the correct accounts, the court said. About 1.1 million euros could not be returned to their rightful owners because the clients who had received the money had already spent it and were unable to replace it.

"I don't understand myself; I must have some kind of helping syndrome," the woman admitted to the court.

The court convicted the bank manager of fraud, though it took a lenient view of her attempt to play Robin Hood and gave her a suspended sentence of 22 months.

She did not pocket any of the money, and has paid dearly for the scheme. She was ordered to pay compensation for the damages she caused and lost both her job and her pension.

gmb/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson