A woman withdrew more than €46,000 from her elderly aunt’s bank accounts without her knowledge or consent.

A court yesterday ordered Yolanda Maria Vella to refund the money to the heirs of her aunt, Carmela Spiteri, who had died in the course of the litigation.

Ms Spiteri had instituted the court case in 2011 claiming that, unbeknown to her, Ms Vella had withdrawn €46,378.75 from her accounts at HSBC and Bank of Valletta.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti heard that in February 2010, Ms Spiteri and Ms Vella went together to Notary Charmaine Debono for a power of attorney in Ms Vella’s favour.

Ms Spiteri had told the court that she thought she was doing so solely in order for Ms Vella to cash her pension cheques, and it was only later that she realised that she had been tricked. While she had given her niece a general power of attorney, she had never authorised her to withdraw this money. She asked the court to order Ms Vella to reimburse her in full.

Ms Vella failed to explain why she had withdrawn these sums

Ms Spiteri died before the proceedings were concluded and was succeeded by her heir Paola Vassallo. The notary testified that Ms Spiteri had wanted a general power of attorney and had mentioned her bank accounts.

Ms Vella claimed that she was entitled to withdraw the funds on the basis of the power of attorney issued in her favour and that she had acted in good faith.

The court, however, found that Ms Vella had failed to explain why she had withdrawn these sums, nor had she explained what had become of the money.

The court could therefore only conclude that Ms Vella had used it for her sole benefit.

A person who held a power of attorney had to act in the best interests of the person who had granted this power. The personal use of the assets was contrary to law and was a betrayal of fiduciary duties.

The court ordered Ms Vella to refund the sum together with interest from the date of the bank withdrawals.