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 It was the high blood pressure and lack of sleep, the burden of a
multi-million-dollar secret.
Sitting down with his boss this July, Bitraj confessed his
deception: over a four-year period he had stolen the equivalent of
$6.5 million from the vault, covering his tracks by stuffing the
empty cash boxes with books and balls of string.
The revelation brought down the central bank governor, led to the
arrest of 18 employees and tarnished the reputation of an
institution once lauded for its professionalism. And all for the
sake of a gambling habit that led to massive losses, culminating in
a series of fatal bets on the soccer World Cup.
The full story of the Balkan bank heist is only just emerging,
gleaned by Reuters in interviews with bankers, investigators and
others involved, and from legal documents including a transcript of
Bitraj's confession.
It started in May 2010, when Bitraj, who had risen to become head of
the cash processing department at the bank, first opened the metal
and plastic clasps to the wooden boxes that hold its cash reserves
in the cryptically named X Building on the outskirts of the capital
Tirana.
Bitraj, 45, had a penchant for placing bets on soccer matches, so
roughly once a month he would wait for his co-workers to leave the
room and swipe up to 2 million leks, roughly $18,000, according to
the confession.
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Choosing carefully how he returned the boxes, Bitraj would make sure
those he had tampered with were not in line for delivery to
Albania's commercial banks, nor likely to be picked on in the
regular random audit of the vault.
As the thefts mounted, he would stuff the boxes with packaging,
balls of string and books to replace the weight of the cash.
All three keys needed to access the vault were kept in his personal
safe. In statements to police, bank employees said they had not
received any directive on how or where to store the keys.
Bitraj says auditors checked only 2 percent of the cash boxes in the
vault. Fired governor Ardian Fullani says it was 5 percent,
maintaining that checks in the former communist country were
comparable with other central banks in Europe.
Witness testimony has since revealed that the bank's plumber and
electrician both made up the numbers for the required seven-member
audit team in 2012 and 2013.
Oddly enough, according to Bitraj's confession, the security cameras
in the cash processing section were not trained on the cash boxes,
but on an office and an annex to the cash room.
Bitraj would stuff the money in a black plastic bag and place it in
his office safe, investigators said. Then before leaving work, he
would duck into the lavatory and strap the wads of bills to his
body. His nephew would drive him home.
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"The bank had no system to detect if anyone was carrying banknotes
out, and some of the cameras were at an angle at which one could not
see everything," an investigator, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told Reuters.
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The theft reached its peak during the World Cup in Brazil in June
and July; at one point, Bitraj smuggled out 10 million leks, or
roughly $90,000, in a single day.
Newspapers reported that he bet through Tirana bookmakers on dozens
of matches throughout the tournament, losing 20 million leks
($180,000) on a single game when he backed Brazil to beat Chile in
regular time but they only won through on penalties.
The strain on him was mounting.
His wife, in written testimony, said he was suffering from high
blood pressure. Investigators told Reuters he was not eating
properly, could not sleep and had stopped washing himself.
"I wonder why the guy didn't skip the country," said a veteran
insider at the central bank.
His confession sent shockwaves through the bank: 18 employees have
been arrested, mainly on suspicion of negligence. Fullani, who had
won praise from the likes of the International Monetary Fund for his
handling of monetary policy during 10 years in charge, is under
house arrest pending trial on charges of abuse of office.
Bitraj himself has been charged with bank theft and faces up to 20
years in jail. The trial is expected to begin within weeks and a
verdict could come early next year.
His tale is a cautionary one for banks the world over.
"It seems they worked on the basis of trust. And there should be
zero trust in a bank," the central bank insider said.
(Editing by Matt Robinson and Mark Trevelyan)
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