The Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has dismissed the appeal filed by the former manager of the Agrarian Transformation Society (SAT) Guancha Agrícola, located in Garachico, against a ruling by the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which sentenced him to three and a half years in prison for the crime of aggravated fraud.
The convicted, who worked as an administrative assistant in the company for more than 14 years, was in charge of processing the payroll of the workers and used a computer program that only he knew how to use.
Thus, with the aim of obtaining an “illicit benefit”, he prepared two different lists, one where he included the amount of his payroll as stated in his contract and in the field agreement and another in which he altered the amount and was the one that it was finally collected on the pen drive, which was not checked by the accountant.
With this way of proceeding, the man caused damage to the company’s coffers of 364,715.15 euros from January 2009 to May 2017.
Although it is assumed that the convicted person performed functions above his category, he did not have the right to receive more remuneration without having obtained the permission of the company or claiming it through the courts.
The sentence, made public this Wednesday, raises the amount of the scam above 50,000 euros, causing damage to society of 364,715.15 euros, which the convicted person must pay as compensation.
