Restaurateur Charles Spiteri was conned by someone who paid in advance with a stolen cheque. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

A restaurateur is furious at his bank after it charged him nearly €600 for processing a cheque which turned out to be stolen.

Charles Spiteri, the owner of La Maltija restaurant in St Julian’s, is now attempting to recoup the amount from Bank of Valletta.

He explained that last month he received an e-mail from a British company, Darchem Engineering Ltd, requesting a quotation for daily three-course dinners for a team of 15 people who had chosen Malta as their holiday destination for four days in July.

Mr Spiteri drew up a varied menu and sent a quotation to the company representative, by the name of Richard Brown, based on the budget that the company had set.

A few days later, Mr Brown replied expressing satisfaction that his colleagues could eat at Mr Spiteri’s restaurant, adding the price was acceptable to the company.

“To make sure that everything is arranged before our arrival, we wish to make an advance payment to confirm the booking,” Mr Brown wrote as he asked Mr Spiteri for an address where to post the cheque. “Since you are the first booking we have confirmed, we wish to issue this cheque payment to you. Therefore when you receive the cheque, cash it and deduct money for the cost of your services. The remaining money will be for the logistics agency (the detail will be provided to you when we have concluded). Upon your confirmation of the payment, our logistics agency will forward you our detailed itinerary,” Mr Brown wrote in his e-mail.

I feel I have been defrauded by the bank I trusted

Unsuspecting, since he often receives quotation requests for group bookings, Mr Spiteri supplied his address and days later received a Lloyds Bank cheque.

He grew suspicious when the amount, in Sterling, was much greater than the amount quoted for the four dinners. This notwithstanding, he went to Bank of Valletta to deposit the cheque.

The deposit went through but a few days later he got a call from the bank informing him that the cheque had been reported stolen so the funds were being reversed.

“The bank reversed the funds and charged me almost €600 in bank charges. I feel I have been defrauded by the bank I trusted because it’s not my fault that the cheque was stolen,” Mr Spiteri complained, adding that he had already met his lawyer in an attempt to recoup the amount.

He said the bank should not charge clients when something like this happens as it should have insurance to cover such incidents.

When contacted, a spokesman for BOV said the bank does not comment on individual clients.