A 17 year old boy from Pollonnaruwa who siphoned off millions of rupees from Sampath Bank in a fraudulent manner was released on bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate.

He was produced before court after Smapath Bank lodged a complaint that the boy had taken mney from ATM machine in a wrongful manner.

He had opened an account with Sampath Bank in January 2014 and had deposited a sum of Rs 163 000 in it. However, as a result of a mistake on the part of the Bank, his account had been credited with Rs 17.5 Million.

Without informing the Bank of the mistake, the boy had taken money through his ATM card using several ATM machines at various places. The Bank informed the court that he had taken money from his account on 558 occasions.

 It was revealed before the Magistrate that the boy had purchased a bus and a motorcycle from the money he obtained from the bank.

When the case was taken for hearing, the Magistrate noted that the Bank was also partially responsible for the incident as it made a blunder by crediting a large amount of money to the account of the accused.

However the Magistrate also said that the conduct of the accused amounted to fraud and misappropriation as he did not inform the Bank when he noticed the mistake.

The accused agreed to pay back the money to Sampath Bank as monthly installments.

He was released on a cash bail of Rs 50 000 and two sureties of Rs 1 million.