Misappropriation Of Saving Bank Funds by Manager

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1949, Page 7

Misappropriation Of Saving Bank Funds by Manager

£5700* Shortage P.A. DUNEDIN, Oct. 6

Pleading guilty to three charges of theft involving £7600, Alfred Thomas, aged 53, formerly manager of the Dunedin Savings Bank, appeared before Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court this morning and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. A STRANGE s CASE STATED 1 In a statement produced in court Thomas said that in 1936 or 1937 he had assisted a great friend financially and owing to a series of misfortunes this man was unable to repay him. In fact he died. The estate showed a big deficiency and Thomas lost all the money he had advanced. “I felt duty bound to assist the widow and her children, and this I did to a considerable degree,” said Thomas. “My desire to help this family and others in similar plight placed me in a position greater than my personal funds would allow. I knew the Bank was making a great deal of profit and I felt that its funds could be used for assistance in such cases, as previously mentioned.

“In 1937 I commenced taking bank funds and used this money, together with my own, to assist what I considered genuine cases. I continued to take various sums each year until 1947. I personally have not gained anything as all the money involved was used by me ia assisting cases which I considered genuine and deserving. “With the advent of the war it virtually became an obsession with me to help servicemen and my public activities in relation to them provided me with many opportunities of lending a helping hand. I often did not have the heart to turn deserving cases away and personally fixed them for the amounts required.” THE DISCOVERY

Lengthy evidence was given by William George Hilliker, the present manager of the bank, who was accountant at the time of the thefts. Hilliker described the methods employed in preparing annual accounts and said Thomas insisted on taking out the final figures himself. Hilliker said that in June, 1947, his suspicions were aroused regarding the postings of credits by Thomas. He carried out an investigation while Thomas was away and found that he had been falsifying the final figures of the accounts. Thomas was the only' person in a position to create false balance in the proof sheets of the accounts and then made a false record on the ledger card. When Thomas returned to the bank on June 18, 1947, Hilliker told him he knew the accounts had! been falsified. Thomas replied: “All over,” and broke down.

Hilliker described subsequent investigations which disclosed further defalcations.

THE SYSTEM USED

Stewart Francis Mclnnes, public accountant, said a comprehensive audit of the bank accounts last August showed that tne bank accounts had been manipulated by a system of false credits. Eighteen individual accounts had been used for the posting of false credits. Only the bank’s funds were used and no individual depositor was affected financially. The sum of £l9OO had been paid back into the bank’s funds and the bank’s loss now stood at £5700.