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AKARTA: Criminal law expert Jisman Samosir told a court hearing on Wednesday that the Citibank embezzlement case involving its former executive, Malinda Dee, should be shifted to a civil case since the bank had returned the money stolen from its customers by Malinda.

As an expert witness for the defendant, Jisman said that since the customers’ rights had been restored, the bank was the only victim in the Rp 44 billion (US$4.84 million) embezzlement case.

“Now the case should be seen as an internal matter between the bank management and one of its employees. Therefore, it fits for a civil lawsuit,” the professor at Bandung-based Parahyangan University said at Malinda’s hearing at the South Jakarta District Court.

Malinda was accused of illegally siphoning money from the accounts of 34 premium customers. She allegedly had carried out 117 illegal transactions, 64 of which were in local currency totaling Rp 27.3 billion and 53 of which were in US dollars totaling $2 million.

The trial was adjourned until next week when the court will hear the prosecutor’s sentencing proposal.