A working couple who swindled their employer out of thousands of euros, were given jail terms and fined a total of €50,000 besides being ordered to refund almost €60,000 taken from the company coffers.
Brian Buttigieg, 43, and Joanne Cutajar, 34, faced criminal proceedings for money laundering after an anonymous tip-off to the general manager of the Farsons Group Food Chain Restaurant brought to light the illegal activity. Mr Buttigieg was also separately accused of misappropriation of company funds.
While working as manager at KFC Gzira, a job which he had taken up in 2003, Mr Buttigieg devised a scheme whereby he would not record all sales on the cash register, pocketing the money instead.
This ploy went on for around 30 months and was only uncovered through an anonymous phone call to the general manager of the food chain by a customer who complained over not having been given a fiscal receipt every time he dropped by at the Gżira outlet.
Acting upon this information, the management team had checked the CCTV footage which clearly revealed that Mr Buttigieg was not handing out a receipt to all the customers.
Confronted by this situation, the culprit admitted his wrongdoing and willingly offered to reach an out of court settlement with his superiors. This, however, failed to materialise since the worker insisted that the sum of around €173,000 quoted by the company was inflated.
Criminal proceedings were instituted against the employee and his partner, also a member of the staff at the KFC Gżira, although the latter had initially insisted with the police that she did not know anything about the source of the sums her partner regularly handed her for safe-keeping.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, observed that Mr Buttigieg had indeed devised an ingenious scheme whereby he transferred funds from one bank account to another, while making use of his partner's account to hide part of the misappropriated sums.
It was observed that the savings account registered in Ms Cutajar's name was particularly active with average monthly deposits as from April 2011 of €1,000, a marked increase from the €200-€400 monthly deposits registered previously.
"Mr Buttigieg certainly knew how to save money," remarked the court, pointing out that he had managed his funds perfectly well without receiving any assistance.
The court observed that as for the man's partner, who had at first denied knowledge of the illicit source of the money, the lady must have known perfectly well of what was going on even before the man's dismissal from his job.
Later she explained that her partner used to hand over money intended to repay the loan and furnish the house which the couple planned to set up. However, Ms Cutajar claimed that she had never asked about the source of the money.
Confronted by a particular deposit of €5,000, Mr Buttigieg had claimed that he had sold his motorbike and had received a cash payment. However, the court observed that no proof whatsoever of the alleged transaction was ever put forward.
Company officials had also testified that there had been a noticeable increase in profits at the KFC Gżira outlet following the dismissal of Mr Buttigieg.
The court declared both accused guilty, condemning Mr Buttigieg to a jail term of four years and a fine of €30,000. Ms Cutajar was given a jail term of two years suspended for four years and fined of €20,000.The two were ordered to refund their former employer within 3 years €59,896, the sum determined beyond all reasonable doubt by the court expert as having been involved in the swindle.
Both were ordered to refund their former employer €59,896 within three years. This was the sum determined beyond all reasonable doubt by the court expert as having been involved in the swindle.
The court also ordered the confiscation of all assets of the accused and made them pay another €2,725 to cover court expert fees within two years.
Mr Buttigieg caused some commotion in the courtroom when he fainted upon hearing the sentence being read out. An ambulance was called to assist the man.