Customers of the central branch of a bank in Thessaloniki, who were victims of the complex case of vault burglary from its safe deposit box have been pardoned by the final court decision.
Specifically, the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki awarded compensation of 117,600 euros to a couple of bank box lessees for the value of the stolen items (jewellery and other valuable objects) as well as for moral damages. The total amount to be paid by the bank, including legal interest and court costs, amounts to approximately 245,000 euros.
The court ruled – among other things – that the theft of the objects by the two above-mentioned lessees ‘is due to the fact that the defendant did not take the appropriate, necessary, and effective protective measures for the safekeeping and protection of the items placed inside it, thus overturning the reasonably expected and confidently anticipated security that they believed the vault they had leased possessed.’
The plaintiffs had filed a compensation lawsuit when they discovered that the valuable items they kept in the safe deposit box had disappeared. Among these were gold rings, crosses, necklaces, bracelets, earrings with precious stones and pearls, watches, Austrian gold coins (Ducats), American gold $20 coins, British gold pounds and sovereigns, Byzantine gold coins, silver engraved knives, a professional camera, and more.
Similar was the verdict recently issued by the same court for another safe deposit box lessee, who was decisively ordered to return all stolen items, while additional compensation for moral damages was awarded. Other similar lawsuits filed by victims of the same case have also taken the path of civil courts. Most of them have been accepted, and final decisions are pending.”
As for the criminal aspect of the case – which concerned the period from 2011 to 2015, with the amount lost from the vaults estimated at 2.6 million euros in cash and valuables – the Council of Misdemeanours of Thessaloniki, through its decision, acquitted six bank employees (retired and active), who were accused of embezzlement (prosecution was terminated for one due to death).
The mere fact that the accused bank employees had access to the vault area and to the keys of the safe deposit boxes is not sufficient to objectively establish criminal liability on their part,’ ruled the judges of the Council, according to the decision issued in January 2023.
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