A public employee has been convicted of stealing €250,000 and received a suspended sentence.
The Tribunal in Braga today sentenced a state employee to a four year suspended prison sentence. She worked in the local Conservatorio and stole the money over a period of years ‘for love.’
During the trial the defendant confessed to the accusations claiming that she had fallen in love and wanted to buy a house in Brazil. To this end she took out bank loans and paid for them by stealing money from the state.
The defendant, 44, was convicted on charges of embezzlement dating back to 2007 and of forging documents to carry out her crimes.
The Institute of Registries and Notaries wanted to be reimbursed for the money msiising from its accounts, but the court dismissed the claim due to the insolvency of the defendant.
The defendant was a worker at the conservatory in Braga serving from 2007 to 2011, dealing with car registrations. She managed to steal €252,000 starting with €5,665 in 2007 and increasing the amounts over subsequent years as she became bolder.
The court heard that the stolen amounts were "facilitated by the lack of supervision" from her superiors.
The thefts were detected only when the defendant went on vacation and her replacement was confronted by a citizen with a car registration querie. This led to an enquiry and the method of the crime was uncovered.
The employee was eventually fired and today the court emphasised the seriousness of the offence but justified the suspension of the sentence by the regret expressed by the defendant, her full confession and the absence of a criminal record.
