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Two former finance officers handed custodial sentences

September 19, 2018 4:25 am

Two women convicted of laundering more than half a million dollars in a period of six years were handed custodial sentences by the High Court today.

42-year-old Rosheen Raj is sentenced to eleven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of ten years while 52-year-old Rine Sorby is given a jail term of ten years with a non-parole period of nine years.

The Court heard that between June 2006 and November 2012, Raj and Sorby while being employed at the Pacific Theological College in Nasese, Suva laundered around five hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars.

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Judge Justice Salesi Temo says the two deceived their employers and cheated them. They had colluded and tempered with the college’s financial documents.

The court heard that this was a serious breach of trust as the college trusted both of them to look after its funds.

It was also highlighted the pair were the master minds in the entity and now had to pay for their deceiving acts with the loss of their liberties.

Justice Temo says Raj deliberately fooled her supervisors by falsifying documents and cheques.

Raj obtained more than seventy-three thousand dollars between June 2006 and February 2011.

Sorby also committed the same crime paying herself more than seventy-three thousand dollars between June 2006 and February 2011.

Jointly the pair obtained more than four hundred and twelve thousand between March 2010 and November 2012.

Their bank statements also showed large sums of money were being deposited in the six years of the crime and to date not a single cent has been recovered.

The two were reminded of the heartache and sadness they’ve caused for people at the college and that they had no regard of its property or reputation.