RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A former manager of Banco do Brasil in Lindóia do Sul (Santa Catarina) was convicted of embezzling nearly R$827,000 (US$207,000) from the accounts of eleven clients, according to an audit by Banco do Brasil. With the correction and fine imposed by the courts, the manager will be forced to return R$2.48 million to the bank.
The defense did not allow the disclosure of her name and said she would appeal the decision. In the public civil action, filed by the bank, it says that the crimes occurred between 2009 and 2016 when the former Bank of the State of Santa Catarina (BESC) was transferred to Banco do Brasil, and the employee was promoted from executive cashier to service manager.
The bank reported that the former manager acknowledged the misappropriations and claimed to have used the money to cover debts of her husband’s motorcycle store and for deposits in personal accounts, according to the sentence. Upon admitting the crimes, she was removed from office and resigned, states the sentence.
According to the indictment, a way of committing the crimes was to collect the deposits, reverse the amount, and use the money to settle personal commitments.
For higher transactions, she used the general manager’s password. However, he did not partake in the crimes, according to the court. The former manager also modified cash balance reports to conceal the embezzlement, according to statements from other bank employees.
Affected clients said that she failed to provide proof of deposit, claiming that “they didn’t need it and that everything was fine” and that, sometimes, “she would hand over handwritten BESC statements or booklets,” according to the decision.
Clients also reported that she would not allow them to monitor their investments’ performance. In total, R$826,757.27 were taken from current accounts, according to the courts.
Judge Letícia Bodanese Rodegheri, from the Ipumirim district court, fined her twice the amount of damages: R$1,653,514.54. Together, the total amount of the conviction is R$2,480,271.81.