Bank staff gets 5yrs for misusing over K257,000

THE National Court in Vanimo has jailed for five years a bank employee for misappropriating K257,746 belonging to the bank.
Judge Teresa Berrigan on Monday sentenced Bank South Pacific employee Magdalene Lasi, 38, of Yako village in West Sepik to five years imprisonment without hard labour.
“One year of the sentence is suspended upon the condition that restitution in the sum of K50,000 is to be paid into the National Court Trust Account within two years as of Oct 16,” she said. “She entered into her own recognisance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the balance of her sentence.”
Justice Berrigan ordered that the K7,000 bail money be refunded to her, plus the surety fees for her guarantors.
Court documents stated that during the course of Lasi’s employment with BSP between May
2017 and Dec 2020, she withdrew a total of K257,746 from the accounts of 21 customers for her personal use.
Justice Berrigan said Lasi was a team leader with BSP Vanimo branch and used her position, knowledge and authority to commit the offence.
“There must have been some inconvenience and distress caused to the customers concerned but the ultimate victim in this case is BSP,” she said.
“This is a significant amount of money of which the bank has had to bear in reimbursing its customers, together with the cost and inconvenience associated with conducting its own investigations.”
She said the offence was conducted over more than three and a half year involving 116 withdrawals from 21 customers’ accounts.
“The summaries contained in the deposition shows that the amounts were relatively small, ranging from K250 to K4000,” she said.
“Further, she took money from community groups, wards groups and individuals who could least afford to lose the monies had they remained undetected.”