A manager at an insurance firm has been sentenced to 160 hours of unpaid work after stealing more than £5,000 (C$8,400) from his employers.
According to a
BBC report, Michael Gillies, 35, from Perth, Scotland, diverted money from customer repayments into his own bank account while he was working for
Aviva. He was fired for gross misconduct when the allegations were revealed.
Speaking in court, depute fiscal Bill Kormode stated that Gillies revealed he had financial problems after he began working for Aviva back in 2008.
He is quoted in the BBC report as stating: “Part of his role was processing insurance premium refunds to customers.
“The money would go back to customer bank accounts if they were not satisfied.
“He was interviewed and admitted he had financial issues when he started in 2008 due to a car loan.
“He stated this escalated when he went through a divorce.”
According to the prosecutor, in instances where the original bank account was no longer used the company had a facility in place to send money to a different account. Gillies reportedly capitalised on this by creating fund transfers into his own bank account – something that the company only became aware of thanks to an anonymous tip-off.
Ultimately, Gillies admitted that he had embezzled £5,041 from Aviva in Perth and claims to have saved £800 as part of a repayment.
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