Borders staff jailed 4 years
By Sujin Thomas
NO one suspected a thing when financial accountant Ochieng Claudius Oyula bought a $153,000 car with a loan.
The 32-year-old Kenyan national who had been employed by Borders bookstore went on to buy a slew of ostentatious items - all for his own use.
They included a home entertainment system valued at about $5,000, a Sony Playstation worth about $600 and a $2,000 bicycle.
It was only in July when suppliers and vendors made several complaints about non-payment for their goods and services that Borders sensed something amiss.
An audit of company accounts showed that the payee details on cheques presented to a bank differed from those in the company's filing system.
The police were called in on July 29 and Oyula, who had been entrusted with these cheques, was arrested.
The dreadlock-haired Singapore permanent resident was jailed for four years in a district court on Tuesday
His lawyer Mr Sunil Sudheesan discharged himself before Tuesday's hearing as Oluya decided to represent himself.
Pleading for leniency, he told the court that he has lost all credibility and caused 'regrettable harm' to Borders.
About 10 of his friends who sat in the public gallery, traded jokes with him before he was led away.
One friend was even heard telling him that Barrack Obama had become the United States president-elect.
According to court documents, Oyula first began misappropriating company funds in 2006.
He would make photocopies of cheques which did not carry any payee details. He would then write the payee details, as stated on the invoices, and make photocopies of them.
The forged copies were then filed as company records while he would make out the original cheques to himself.
By the time he was found out, he had siphoned over $422,000 from Borders. Only about $28,000 has been recovered.
By Sujin Thomas
NO one suspected a thing when financial accountant Ochieng Claudius Oyula bought a $153,000 car with a loan.
The 32-year-old Kenyan national who had been employed by Borders bookstore went on to buy a slew of ostentatious items - all for his own use.
They included a home entertainment system valued at about $5,000, a Sony Playstation worth about $600 and a $2,000 bicycle.
It was only in July when suppliers and vendors made several complaints about non-payment for their goods and services that Borders sensed something amiss.
An audit of company accounts showed that the payee details on cheques presented to a bank differed from those in the company's filing system.
The police were called in on July 29 and Oyula, who had been entrusted with these cheques, was arrested.
The dreadlock-haired Singapore permanent resident was jailed for four years in a district court on Tuesday
His lawyer Mr Sunil Sudheesan discharged himself before Tuesday's hearing as Oluya decided to represent himself.
Pleading for leniency, he told the court that he has lost all credibility and caused 'regrettable harm' to Borders.
About 10 of his friends who sat in the public gallery, traded jokes with him before he was led away.
One friend was even heard telling him that Barrack Obama had become the United States president-elect.
According to court documents, Oyula first began misappropriating company funds in 2006.
He would make photocopies of cheques which did not carry any payee details. He would then write the payee details, as stated on the invoices, and make photocopies of them.
The forged copies were then filed as company records while he would make out the original cheques to himself.
By the time he was found out, he had siphoned over $422,000 from Borders. Only about $28,000 has been recovered.
