The two men, named only as Priit and Andre, are accused of making six transfers from the state-owned Estonian Post to different people totalling 312,500 euros (380,000 dollars) in 1999.

"Priit was using a laptop in a hotel in Tartu and made the transfers using a modem connection," district prosecutor Stella Veber said in a statement.

The theft was made possible due to Andre, who at that time was working as a computer specialist in Estonian Post.

He had installed a long distance monitoring program in the company's chief accountant's computer that allowed him to see the protected codes which the accountant used.

Andre then passed the codes to Priit, who allegedly made the transfers.

The two men are accused of withdrawing 125.000 euros before police caught them.

A lecturer in the Estonian IT-college, Jaanus Poial, said that the case does not in any way cast a shadow on the reputation of Estonia's Internet banking.

"There is nothing wrong with the bank's Internet security," Poial said. "The problem was that the long distance monitoring program could be installed and it is a strong violation of the company's security standards."

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