A suspended Customs officer who was investigated by Police for allegedly using a cash card belonging to someone else to withdraw hundreds of dollars from an ATM machine has returned to work.

Sources told that Diallo Sharrieff admitted the theft to Police, paid the money back to his victim and was allowed to go back to work at HM Customs.

But the failure to lay charges against him is understood to have sparked a row between Attorney General Larry Mussenden and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which brings criminal cases to court.

Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater, the head of the civil service, is responsible for disciplinary proceedings involving civil servants and is understood to have allowed Mr. Sharrieff ? whose father is anti-drugs campaigner Takbir Sharrieff ? to return to his job. Sen. Mussenden and HM Customs management are believed to have been against the decision.

Armell Thomas, president of the Bermuda Public Services Union, said the union represented Mr. Sharrieff in the internal disciplinary proceedings.

He said: "He's been reinstated. I won't say too much but given his situation I'm glad that they have reinstated him."

Sen. Mussenden would not comment on the case and Mr. Drinkwater was off the Island yesterday. Assistant Cabinet Secretary Judith Hall-Bean said: "The Government does not make public comment on internal personnel matters."

The incident is alleged to have happened in March at a Capital G cash point on Church Street, Hamilton, and is understood to have been captured on a security camera located within the machine. A source told this newspaper that Mr. Sharrieff was seen to walk up to the ATM machine, where the card had been mistakenly left by its owner.

The source said that Mr. Sharrieff withdrew about $900 before walking away. He was identified from the camera footage. It is understood that the card owner ? a non-Bermudian ? chose not to press charges and that the money was returned to him.

Roseanda Young, Deputy Police Commissioner, said the matter was no longer being investigated by Police. She added: "I am not at liberty to discuss individual cases which have not been brought before the courts."

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, said: "I have been made to understand that no charges were brought because there was no evidence.

"Apart from that, no one has any further comment to make on this issue."

Capital G Bank did not respond to a request for comment including the question of why the Bank did not bring charges.

Finance Minister Paula Cox, whose Ministry is responsible for HM Customs, said of the decision not to prosecute Mr. Sharrieff and of his reinstatement at HM Customs: "It would be most inappropriate for a Minister of the Government to second-guess the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions with reference to their decision in connection with criminal prosecution.

"My intervention as the Minister on personnel issues would be equally untoward given that it is an internal personnel issue and subject to the relevant protocols."

It is believed that Governor Sir John Vereker was asked to look into why Mr. Sharrieff was reinstated. He said: "In the absence of criminal charges, this is entirely a matter for the disciplinary procedures of the department which employs Mr. Sharrieff, for which I have no operational responsibility."

Diallo Sharrieff ? the nephew of National Drug Control Minister Wayne Perinchief and Philip Perinchief, principal crown counsel in the Attorney General's chambers and senior legal adviser at the Ministry of Telecommunications ? did not respond to voice messages left for him by this newspaper.