Former employees fined for breaching confidentiality

James Veneziane and Vincienne Chircop were fined €5,000 together, after being convicted of using confidential information to poach customers from their former employer. The case goes back to 29 June 2011.
 
Office Essentials Limited, an office supplies company, claimed that the accused, two former employees, took a laptop containing sensitive information, client lists, pricing and suppliers’ products. The value of the laptop was €800.

The company said the laptop went missing on the same day the former employees left their job without any reason. Two days later, both Veneziane and Chircop started working for Office Point Lt, a direct competitor of his former employer.

The defendants who joined Office Essentials Limited in 2008, worked as a salesman and an accounts clerk. The two were married during the court proceedings. The laptop was recovered by police officers from the couple’s residence. However no information relating to Office Essentials Limited was found on its hard disk.

Allegedly, after leaving their jobs, the couple were contacting the company’s clients posing as employees of Office Essentials Limited when they were not. In the six months following the incident, the company registered a loss of sales amounting to €12,594. The company also lost 16 of its main clients.
 
Magistrate Francesco Depasquale found the couple guilty of breaching the fiduciary agreements they had with their former employers and find them €5,000.
 
Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Jennifer Shaw appeared for the company.