She wanted to live like a noble lady: Kaunas businessmen didn’t even realize how they had lost a million

And so, over the years, Agnė Urbonienė from Kaunas, currently working as head of the accounting department in another company, has appropriated up to one million euros. The company, which sells and maintains printers and sells office supplies, has been affected.

No one even noticed that the money had evaporated from the company account for a long time; It was only known when A. Urbonienė, who worked as chief accountant, suddenly, without even explaining to anyone, left his job.

“Initially, Ms Urbonienė applied for the license; the circumstances of this application were completely unexpected, because I found the application on my desk, and when the chief accountant did not show up at work after the leave, we tried to contact her, but Then he sent an exemption request by email. – During the interrogation during the pre-trial investigation, the CEO of the company indicated that he had suffered significant material damage.

According to him, the request for dismissal submitted by A. Urbonienė was very unexpected, as he had never mentioned his desire to resign.

“However, the fact that she abruptly terminated her employment contract and did not even show up for work raised some suspicions,” the CEO did not hide.

However, the retired accountant received a salary and compensation for the unused vacation days. And while working for the company, A. Urbonienė could not complain about the bad conditions: he was paid a high enough salary, as well as monthly compensation for a private car used at work and even a compensation for depreciation of the car for the kilometers In addition, several bonuses were awarded.

According to the director, the company soon hired two accountants who examined the company’s accounting documents, evaluated them, and shared suspicions about the former accountant’s roles in the company’s accounting management. After all, until then, A. Urboniene was completely trusted, she was the only one who knew the access codes and passwords for the company’s bank accounts, plus she had generators and could use them at any time.

“Then we were interested in the functions performed by A. Urbonienė: the inclusion of VAT invoices in the company’s accounting and the bank transfers made by it,” said the head of the affected company. – Our company had checking accounts in four banks, I had some suspicions about the balances provided by the accountant, the veracity of the presentation of the financial statements, I demanded explanations from the accountant. But, I admit it, because I completely trusted her, she was able to convince me that the accounts are kept in accordance with all the established requirements. “

However, according to the witness, the inspection revealed that from 2013 to February 2018, when he resigned, “A. Urbonienė misappropriated one million euros by abusing the obligations of the chief accountant and the rights granted to her to enter the accounts, make payments to the bank and make payments according to the accounts. “

According to him, the investigation also revealed that A. Urbonienė was the sole shareholder and manager of a company: “She acquired the shares of this company a week after joining our company, but perhaps to hide a possible connection to this company, she notified the registry of the change of manager only after almost two years. “

After reviewing the company’s accounting documents, the newly hired accountants found that A. Urbonienė transferred the money not only to the company he ran, indicating that this covered the debt, but also to his own accounts such as his spouse’s.

A. Urbonienė did not explain why she suddenly decided to leave the workplace to former employers or law enforcement officers, but admitted that many managers changed during her work year, but they all trusted her too much.

“Accounts were opened in the name of the company in four banks in the country, I made payments using the available bank account generators, I agreed with the company’s suppliers, I transferred salaries to the employees,” said A. Urbonienė. – Bet 2012 He had borrowed 250 thousand LTL (about 72 thousand EUR) from an acquaintance to buy a house, he was obliged to repay the loan in ten months, he had to pay 25 thousand LTL every month. Lieutenant At that time, my and my husband’s total monthly income was approximately 4,000. LTL: When I borrowed money for the construction of a house, I expected the man, who was working abroad, to earn the necessary amount to pay the loan, but he did not go abroad anyway, so I did not have the opportunity to repay the loan. . “

The woman said that one day she had the idea of ​​repaying the loan with the employer’s money.

“I transferred 250 thousand to my account. I collected in the bank and paid the debt, – admitted A. Urbonienė. – The managers of the company did not realize it, so every month I transferred 12 thousand to my bank account or that of my husband. LTL up to 30 thousand. Lieutenant I can’t give the exact amounts right now. “

According to the woman, her husband was unaware of the misappropriation of someone else’s money, “I told him that the money transferred from the company account is my salary.”

Although A. Urbonienė repaid the loan, which he used to build a house, it had to be installed, so the chief accountant again borrowed more than 100,000 from an acquaintance. EUR. He also paid this debt with money that belonged to his employer, no one noticed for a long time.

The accountant, who handled the bank accounts, did not hide that he had transferred large sums of money to the account of the company that he had acquired and managed.

A. Urbonienė admitted that he had appropriated a foreign million, but assured that he had not acquired anything special for that money.

“I paid off the loan, bought land, furnished a house, bought appliances, furniture, food, clothes for myself and my family, and also paid for the leased Volkswagen Passat; I did not buy any other more valuable and luxurious items,” said A. Urbonien . that he spent the embezzled money for his own needs and currently has no savings.

“I was deliberately not counting the amount of money that I had misappropriated, because I realized that one day the managers of the company would see that the money had been embezzled and I would have to return it,” said the accountant in charge.

Unbelievable, but at the time the law enforcement officers found out exactly how much the accountant had misappropriated from the former employer, A. Urbonienė, who was managing the acquired company at the time, he was still committing crimes: he forged an agreement of factoring more than 11 thousand. EUR. But it was not transferred: the businessmen received information that the documents are forged and reported it to law enforcement officials.

Later, after examining A. Urbonienė’s case, the Vilnius City District Court found her guilty but acquitted her of criminal responsibility on bail. At that time, the company under his leadership was condemned, ordered to pay 7 thousand to the state budget. Eur good.

At that time, after examining a case in which A. Urbonieniated misappropriated one million euros from her employer, the Kaunas Regional Court decided to imprison the accountant and sentenced her to two years and two months in prison. The court partially postponed the execution of this sentence; after the sentence went into effect, he ordered that half the sentence be served in a prison. In addition, the court imposed a criminal sanction on him, ordering his former employer to pay one million euros before the end of the suspended sentence.

Realizing that she would be imprisoned, A. Urbonienė filed an appeal with the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, in which she asked not only to revoke the imposition of a custodial sentence, but also to allow her to continue working as an accountant. She is also convinced that it is not possible to repair the damage caused in two years.

“By serving the part of the custodial sentence that was imposed on me, I will lose my job, and then it will be difficult to find a well-paid job, from which I can support and raise my minor children and compensate the material damages of one million”, said A. Urbonienė. – I committed crimes while working for my husband. therefore, in my opinion, the only punitive measure that would better fulfill the purpose of the sentence could be the deprivation of the right to work as an accountant ”.

The judges of the Court of Appeal confirmed the statements made in the appeal of A. Urbonien changed and modified the sentence of first instance by reducing the execution of the partially suspended sentence and the part of the year in prison imposed immediately after entry in force of the judicial sentence to six months. In addition, the judges ruled that during the execution period of the sentence, the convicted person must reimburse the former employer a part – 250 thousand. Eur – material damage caused.

“The panel of judges agrees with the arguments presented in the complaint and considers that in this case it is convenient for A. Urbonien establish to establish the minimum term of imprisonment that will be imposed immediately, provided for in the law,” the court said. – The isolation of the convicted person from society, family and children should generate consequences for the perpetrator so that he can realistically assess the crime and harm committed and draw appropriate conclusions in the future. By postponing the minimum legal period, the panel believes that these goals will be achieved by maintaining a balance between punishment and prevention, discouraging future criminal offenses, breaking the convicted person’s social ties with family, minor children and long-term employment. ” .

In the amended sentence, the judges also recognized that it was not realistic to pay the million imposed during the suspension of the sentence, for which they ordered that at least part of the compensation be paid during that period.

“The convict caused very serious material damage to the company where he worked, his illegal actions were clearly defined, targeted, aimed at receiving money from the company that had entrusted him with company funds based on employment,” said the panel he chaired. by Judge Ernesta Montvidienė. – It is clear from the file that Ms Urbonienė’s own explanations before the court show that she used the money for personal purposes, to satisfy her wishes: to build a house, buy a car, buy land, etc., so that the money damages are that its execution will have, in the opinion of the panel, the greatest effect on the convicted person. “

According to the judges, the punitive measure has a purpose and a purpose: to force the perpetrator to really mitigate the consequences of the crime that caused damage to property, to restore the rights of the victim, to do everything possible to compensate the damages at work without hide financial resources. fonts, etc.