Accounts clerk admits to €369,000 fraud, placed on probation

An accounts clerk has been placed on probation for three years after he admitted to defrauding nearly €369,000 from his employers.

46-year-old Sandro Grima admitted to having defrauded Megaline (M&E) Limited over a three-year period from 2007 to 2010 and relapsing.

By abusing his role with that company over the years, Grima had succeeded in fraudulently acquiring a staggering profit of €368,621.

Grima had been charged after the company's managing director asked the police to investigate. Inspector Anne Marie Xuereb had questioned the accountant and subsequently charged him. He pleaded guilty to the charges on 24 January this year, promising to refund the money.

“There is no doubt...that the company suffered substantial financial damages as a result of the accused's irresponsible and deplorable actions, which however is mitigated by the fact that he revealed his misdeeds and bound himself to fully refund the company for the losses he caused it,” magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona held, placing the man on probation for three years and ordering him to repay his employers the sum defrauded.