Woman previously jailed for stealing from employer facing similar charge

A 24-year-old woman of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who was earlier this year found guilty of stealing $1.2M from her former employer and was sentenced to two years in jail, is facing a similar charge at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

This time, Reshma Deoroop is accused of stealing $50,000 from her former employer, Tesoro Resources and Grey Wolf Resources. She is charged with larceny by clerk or servant contrary to Section 185 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act.
On June 22, 2020, at Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Deoroop, while being employed as an accounts clerk by Tesouro Resources and Grey Wolf Resources, allegedly stole $50,000 in cash — money belonging to the company.
She has pleaded not guilty to this charge.
In her closing submissions to the court, the Prosecutor, Attorney-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat, said the company’s manager testified that whenever a purchase has to be made, the procedure is that the purchasing clerk/ procurement officer would locate the item, prepare a purchase order, and take same to the senior manager for approval.
After approval is granted, the purchase order is taken to the Accounts Department for cash to be released if the payment is $50,000 or below, or a cheque if the payment is above $50,000.
Deoroop was responsible for attaching the money or cheque to the purchase order, after which she would prepare a cash voucher in duplicate.
The sum on the cash voucher must match the sum on the bill/purchase order. The purchasing clerk/procurement officer would then collect the purchase order along with the money or the cheque and proceed to the supplier to purchase and uplift the item.
Facts revealed that the young woman was employed as an accounts clerk with the company from October 16, 2017. On June 20, 2020, the company was in need of a battery relay, but the office was not open that day, so the usual purchasing procedure had to be bypassed, and the purchasing clerk/procurement officer used his own money to purchase the item from HD Excavator Parts for $20,000.
Two days later, the purchasing clerk/procurement officer gave Deoroop the receipt for the purchase in order that his refund could be processed. As such, she prepared a cash voucher and refunded him $20,000. He testified that he collected the money, and that at the time he gave the receipt to Deoroop, it was not altered.
On that very day, however, a daily report prepared by Deoroop recorded the purchase as $70,000 instead of $20,000. She also prepared a cash voucher for $70,000.
Also, the receipt from HD Excavator Parts showed that it was tampered with and the amount of $20,000 was changed to $70,000.

She allegedly removed the monies from the company’s petty cash.
She was arrested on June 24, 2020, and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters (CID), Eve Leary, Georgetown, where she gave a written caution statement admitting that she changed the figure on the cash voucher.
In her closing address to the court, Prosecutor Rahamat submitted that she was able to prove “each and every” element of the offence, and therefore Deoroop ought to be found guilty as charged. The court will render its ruling soon.
Meanwhile, in November 2020, Deoroop was charged with stealing $1.2M from the company. She had also denied this charge, which stated that she stole the cash in June 2020. But following a trial, she was found guilty and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by City Magistrate Rondel Weever.
In that case, it was revealed that she had prepaid several payment vouchers which showed that she paid out monies totalling more than $1.2M. However, an audit revealed that the vouchers for payment were not signed by the recipients. In fact, representatives from the company testified that Deoroop prepaid payment vouchers for transactions that never occurred.
The woman’s wrongdoings came to light after an audit of the company’s finances revealed several discrepancies in payment vouchers. (G1)