Societe Generale teller charged with $3.2M theft

updated 7:45 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2008

BUCHAREST, Romania - An employee of the Romanian Development Bank, owned by French bank Societe Generale, was arrested for allegedly pilfering $3.2 million, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said they arrested Mihaela Rosana Bitu, a teller at the Romanian Development Bank in Craiova, in southern Romania, on Tuesday. Bitu allegedly used the password of the branch director and illegally transferred more than $3 million into two bank accounts.

Romanian authorities arrested three other people and prosecutors said Wednesday that seven people were under investigation.

Bitu was being held in jail and it was not immediately clear when she would appear in court.

The representatives of the bank said that they managed to recover about $2.8 million. Adela Jansen, the secretary-general of the Romanian Development Bank Societe Generale, said that "in less than two hours, the bank had managed to block most of the sum."

Last month, Societe Generale reported losing $7.09 billion because of a rogue trader.

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