A former HSBC bank employee was this morning remanded in custody after he pleaded not guilty to defrauding two people and HSBC Bank Malta.

Joseph Francis Scerri, 50, who is in prison on remand pending a decision on other fraud cases, this morning denied defrauding Maria Concetta Cefai, Mario Gauci, and HSBC Bank Malta. He also pleaded not guilty to money laundering.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti, who appeared for Ms Cefai, said that his client was a bank clerk at the Balzan branch.

She had been working for the bank for 30 years and three months before she was meant to retire, Mr Scerri, who she recognised as a former manager, turned up at the bank with a number of cheques amounting to €58,000, which he asked her to cash for him.

Being a former bank manager and holder of a premier card, she trusted him and cashed the cheques, which she did not know were false.

Because of this she lost her job and her right to a €60,000 pension.

HSBC clarification

HSBC said this evening that Mr Scerri was never employed as a manager with HSBC Bank Malta plc.

"He was a clerical hardware technician and had retired three years before the alleged incident took place."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.