Mild verdict for cheating banker due to depression
A banker who embezzled more than six million Euros of clients money has been given a relatively mild sentence when judges heard he suffers from bipolar disorder.The ex-clerk who was sacked in October 2008 was sentenced to one year in prison at Viennas Criminal Court yesterday (Weds). The man has managed to disguise his actions by setting up bank accounts under a false name since 2007 before he was eventually exposed in a bank-internal investigation.It emerged in court that he managed to pay back nearly five million of the 6.4 million Euros of customers assets which he squandered in high-risk speculative deals.Judges rejected state prosecutors appeals to get the 44-year-old defendant behind bars for longer when a medical expert revealed that he has been suffering from a manic-depressive illness. The doctor explained that the man can be held responsible for his wrongdoings nevertheless. However, he also suggested that the disease should be regarded as a factor to keep the verdict comparably low.It was not revealed in the trial whether the mans superiors knew of his illness.The court case took place three months after a former Erste Bank clerk, 48, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for losing 4.1 million Euros of customers money in risky investments.