A bank employee is facing charges from the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) for embezzling around 430,000 meticais and activating the account of a deceased bank client.

According to SERNIC spokesman Hilário Lole, the accused, who was a Client Manager, allegedly reactivated several accounts using his user name and password, including that of a deceased client.

"The account of the deceased citizen had some value in it and there were just a few withdrawals to be made, but thanks to the prompt intervention of the bank and SERNIC it was possible to abort this situation," he said, quoted by the Miramar.

Most of the hacked accounts are in the central - where the complaint came from - and northern areas of the country, says News.

The accused refutes the accusations and claims that the bank's IT technicians are to blame.

"In order to reactivate the account, the customer goes through an interview with management and then we unblock the account and the account goes back to the management team to authorize the unblocking of the account," he explained.

According to him, his arrest stems from the fact that his username "simply" appeared when unlocking Internet Banking on one of the accounts.

SERNIC believes that there are other people involved in the financial theft, "but only a more thorough investigation will be able to provide more evidence".