State v Singh [1991] FJHC 11; HAC0059.1988s (6 February 1991)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
At Suva
Criminal Jurisdiction

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 59 OF 1988

STATE

v.

HARBANS SINGH
s/o Gyan Singh

LARCENY BY SERVANT: Contrary to Section 274(a)(i)
of the Penal Code Cap. 17

SENTENCE

The accused has pleaded guilty and been convicted for 9 counts of Larceny by Servant and 2 related counts of Fraudulent Falsification of Accounts.

The offences were committed over a 3 year period between August 1983 and September 1985 during which time the accused held the position of Executive Officer/Accountant of the Fiji Sports Council.

In that position the accused was responsible for numerous accounting and other sundry functions of the Fiji Sports Council including the receipt and banking of monies and cheques, the payment of wages and accounts and the preparation and maintenance of various records and books of accounts.

The method or system employed by the accused as outlined by the prosecution in its statement of agreed facts was as follows:

"The accused ....... stole the cash he received on account of the Fiji Sports Council and the amount of money he stole was replaced by banking the cheques he received in order to balance the accounts having altered the figures in the Cash Books and the relevant duplicate copies of the receipts. "

Using this method the accused was able to steal a total sum of $18,868.72 cash before an audit inquiry disclosed the shortfalls in the Sports Council's accounts.

Nothing has been recovered or repaid.

If I may be permitted to say so the method employed by the accused indicates some degree of planning and control of records on his part.

In his favour he has pleaded guilty and shown some remorse and although he has a previous conviction it is undoubtedly an old one and I am content to treat him as a first offender.

I have carefully considered all that has been urged on behalf of the accused by his learned counsel and in particular the apparent laxity with which monies and keys were handled.

In particular I have noted with disbelief the accused's claim that he did not use any of the money for his own purposes and that (in his counsel's words) the accused was `silly and stupid' in foolishly balancing the accounts when the system at the Fiji Sports Council was so lax that any number of other employees could have stolen the cash.

The accused has clearly abused the trust vested in him by his employers who had appointed him to the responsible position that he held in the Fiji Sports Council.

Learned counsel referred the court to 2 cases in which suspended sentences were imposed for offences similar to those on which the accused has been convicted but they are easily and materially distinguishable from the present.

I am of course mindful that these charges have been hanging over the accused for the past 2 years but a custodial sentence cannot be avoided in this instance.

The accused is accordingly sentenced to 15 months imprisonment on each count, all sentences to be served concurrently.

(D.V. Fatiaki)
JUDGE

At Suva,
6th February, 1991.

HAC0059.88S