High Court Judge Justice Sitabaram Pillai Thurairaja has made an order while sentencing a former Payroll Officer of Fiji Ships and Heavy Industries Limited Munesh Chand that the shipbuilding company claim the proceeds of crime of $34,267 dollars from Chand’s account at the ANZ bank.
Chand has been sentenced to four years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years.
He was facing three counts of larceny by servant and it was revealed in court that Chand was altering the payroll of the staff after getting the payment vouchers signed by the superiors, and then depositing extra funds into his account.
The offence took place between February to November 2009 when Chand was working at the government commercial shipbuilding company.
Chand had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, however, halfway into the trial, he informed the court that he wanted to change his plea.
When the case was taken up for fresh trial, he pleaded guilty to all three counts of larceny by servant.
Munesh Chand also admitted that he deposited $34,267 into his account at the ANZ bank in Suva.
Justice Thurairaja started off the sentence at 6 years.
He said Chand misappropriated taxpayer’s money, created loopholes in the government financial system and made the system insecure and also broke the trust of government service.
He reduced two years from the 6 year sentence because Chand was remorseful, pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to confiscate the proceeds of crime which was deposited at the bank.
The defense counsel had asked for a suspended sentence, however, Justice Thurairaja said considering the nature of the crime, it was meticulously planned and executed.
The judge said any lenient sentence will not only put the employer-employees trust at stake but also may encourage others to commit this type of crime.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
