Mail dumped in the sea contained bank documents

A bundle of envelopes allegedly dumped in the sea by a postman contained bank documents, bank cards and letters from government departments, according to the diver who discovered them.

The diver, who preferred not to be named, said he retrieved the bundle of letters, bound together with a thick rubber band, from the seabed around four metres out from the Ċirkewwa breakwater. The bundle lay at a depth of around three metres.

It was only after The Sunday Times put questions to Maltapost - to obtain its side of the story - that the company admitted the incident. And it did so in the form of a statement to all media last Friday in which it professed to "inform" the public of the case.

The company said it had carried out internal investigations about the discovery and the employee responsible for the delivery of the mail in question had been dismissed. Sources said the letters have now been delivered but this information could not be confirmed.

Around 60 envelopes containing letters postmarked May 14 and addressed to recipients in Rabat were discovered in the afternoon on June 1. Although the diver did not open any of the envelopes, he said the post contained official letters from HSBC, as well as credit or debit cards. There were also letters from the Treasury Department, the Inland Revenue Department and the Education Department.

The envelopes had not disintegrated and did not stick to one another, indicating that they had not been in the water for long.

The diver took the bundle of mail to the Ċirkewwa police station but was referred to Qawra police, where he filed an official report on the matter.