BY ROMINAH FAKA
The case against a former Bank South Pacific (BSP) teller has been adjourned for March 20.
Tessa Solenone Rore, 31, is accused for two counts of larceny by servant and one count of forgery of certain documents with intention to defraud.
Sentencing and mitigation was supposed to have been done yesterday.
However, defence told court it has not printed its submission to give to court. Prosecution was also absent.
Prosecution had given instructions that it wished to make an oral submission in court.
Court then adjourned the matter, granting prosecution its request and instructing defence to submit its written submission in the next hearing.
Court also requested both counsels to submit their agreed facts.
Bail for the accused was extended, and she is required to appear in court Wednesday next week.
Allegation said Rore was employed as a Money Gram Teller at the Bank of South Pacific Limited (BSP), Central Honiara branch, since April 16, 2015.
The allegations against the accused arose when BSP customers made an enquiry to the bank about suspicious withdrawals and deposits in or from their personal bank accounts in 2020. The accused was removed from the till and the BSP Operational Risk Unit conducted an internal assessment.
It was discovered that the shortage amount from the till was around $400,000.
The accused allegedly took out money from the till or drawer, which resulted in cash shortages and she would do withdrawals from customer’s accounts to balance the till at the end of each business day.
Prosecution adds that on the next business day, she would deposit the money back to the customer’s account from the till.
It has been discovered that the accused had done these fraudulent transactions on 40 customers’ accounts since April, 2020.
According to the investigation report, the total amount the accused stole from the till is about $500,000.
In August 2020, the accused was officially terminated from her employment.
Jonathan Auga of DPP Office acts for the State and Emy Rusi of PSO acts for the Accused.
