A former HSBC bank clerk was financially ruined by an ex-employee who convinced her to cash €58,000 worth of cheques she did not realise were stolen, a court heard yesterday.

Maria Concetta Cefai, 53, of Attard, was left to pick up the pieces after 50-year-old Joseph Scerri duped her into cashing the cheques instead of waiting five days for them to be cleared, as is standard procedure.

She was meant to retire just three months after the incident in April and as a result lost her job and a €60,000 pension from the bank after 30 years of loyal service, lawyer Stefano Filletti told Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera.

He added that during her career she was also unfortunate enough to have been working at the bank’s Balzan branch when thieves burst in and stole a substantial amount of money a few years ago.

Mr Scerri, who is currently in prison pending other fraud cases, yesterday denied defrauding the bank and Ms Cefai.

He also pleaded not guilty to stealing the cheques from Mario Gauci and defrauding him too.

The lawyer told the court Ms Cefai had trusted the accused after considering that she knew him as a manager and a premier account holder. The case continues.

In a statement, HSBC said the accused was never employed as a branch manager with the bank but as a clerical hardware technician and had retired three years before the alleged incident took place.