The authorities have yet to recover EUR 735,000 that disappeared from a safe in Germany after a trainee Polish bank clerk allegedly stole it.
Mateusz Z., 21, was only arrested six months after the crime took place at a VR Bank and has since appeared before a court in Munich, in Bavaria, southern Germany.
The then 19-year-old started his apprenticeship at the VR-Bank in Feldkirchen near Munich in 2022.
He allegedly stole the money just five months later, after being given permission to count the cash in the safe and after ordering a large amount of money for a fictitious customer, according to local media reports.
The young man allegedly stuffed the money into a backpack when no one was looking and when he was eventually caught. He simply said that his “life depends on it” and that his grandma had “a lot of debts”.

But he was only arrested months later 2023 after going into hiding in either Turkey. The Balkans or the Czech Republic before turning himself in to the police in Germany.
He has been in custody ever since.
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The court has heard how there may be an unknown accomplice who pressured Mateusz to commit the theft.
The young man was reportedly seen of a shovel which was found in his apartment investigators were unable to find any of the loot.
The prosecution has requested seven years in prison.
A verdict is expected in February.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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