THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala University’s Center for Latin American Studies is paying the price for what could be the costliest “typo” in its financial history – a careless bank employee who swapped ” ₹ ” for ” $ ” while transferring money to a Brazil-based journalist as compensation for four online lectures he gave in 2023.The difference between the proposed fee of Rs 20,000 and the spent amount of US$ 20,000 resulted in Kerala University becoming Rs 16.5 lakh poorer. Worse still, all attempts to reclaim the excess amount have failed. The transfer was made to the specified account of Kathleen Martinic, the wife of the guest lecturer Milan Sime Martinic. According to officials, the mistake occurred at the Tejaswini SBI branch in Thiruvananthapuram’s Technopark.The center reported the loss to the university in 2024, after which authorities wrote to the visiting lecturer. “Martinic promised to credit the excess amount back to the university account. However, the money never reached us even though he claimed to have paid it back,” said Gireesh Kumar, director of the center TOI .Martinic died a few months later, further reducing the chances of the university recovering the excess Rs 16.5 lakh transferred on June 15, 2023.The state government had granted Rs 20 lakh to the Center for a student exchange programme. The money was transferred by Kathleen to the account of a consulting group. The center has since lodged a complaint with the banking ombudsman, but the issue remains unresolved. SBI, admitting its mistake, sought the university’s assistance to urge the recipient to refund the amount received.
