Addis Ababa. — The head of Ethiopia's biggest commercial bank has said that customers who withdrew more money than what was in their accounts because of a glitch cannot "escape" the law.

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) customers this week rushed to take out money, or transfer it to other accounts.

It took several hours for the state-owned bank to freeze transactions.

Those who do not return money that is not theirs will be prosecuted, warned CBE president Abe Sano.

In an interview yesterday, he said the bank would take legal action against those who do not give back the funds by the end of the week.

"There is no way that they can escape because they are digital [transactions] and they are our customers. We know them. They are traceable and they are legally accountable for what they did," he said.

A CBE employee told the BBC it was harder to find money transferred to other banks than to trace sums moved to another CBE account.

Abe said the bank was already in the process of reporting customers to the police.

He disputed reports that customers had withdrawn US$40 million that was not theirs, saying the amount taken was far smaller but will be accurately determined after an audit is completed later this week. - BBC.com