A Dublin bank customer emigrating to Spain got a £250,000 windfall when his bank accidentally transferred more than 300,000 euros, instead of 300,000 Spanish pesetas, into his new account.
The customer wanted £1,500 worth of pesetas sent to Spain. His Bank of Ireland branch changed the £1,500 into more than 300,000 pesetas - but then accidentally sent that number of euros to the Spanish account. This amounted to around £250,000.
When the bank realised a mistake had been made, it called in the Garda in an effort to get the money back. It is believed a number of senior bank staff travelled to Spain to try to track down their former customer. They need his written consent to take the money back from his new account.
Garda∅ from the local detective unit were initially called in when management at the bank discovered their mistake.
But as the man has committed no crime, officers had to tell bank officials they could not help. "It's basically the bank's mistake," a Garda source said. "This man had broken no laws. He asked for his money to be transferred and the bank themselves caused the problem.
"We have had to tell them that we cannot be of assistance because it is not a criminal offence and no law has been broken. It is our understanding that the bank needs this man to give written agreement before the mistake has been rectified. So far the bank has not been able to get that signature."
A Bank of Ireland spokesman last night confirmed they were pursuing the recovery of the money.
This is the first reported major slip-up by an Irish business in the run-up to the introduction of the new currency.