Fraud in vouchers

Such conduct of an employee that too a Manager is intolerable.

It sets a bad example and a wrong precedence.

Yu have posted that the manager has separated since last 10 months.

You are contemplating to initiate an action now.

Before you start you may look into some imp. Points e.g.

Was the manager final authority to pas the voucher? Or he was only a recommending authority and his superiors were also duty bound to check the genuineness before passing

Finally? Or the Finance/admin/HR/personnel etc were also involved as per the process and practice set by the company.

Did only this manager pocketed the amount or all in the staff shared it and since the manager has left they are passing the buck?

The indulgence of the staff is also questionable and intolerable.

The staff is still in service so they can be influenced to write a confession.

If you have extracted a confession can you condone their guilt? The answer seems to be NO.

Why was the staff silent for 10 months? If they had character, integrity and they were honest why they did not complain to superiors?

Why was the company keeping mum for 10 moths?

What is the guarantee that the staff is not hand in glove with the new manager too?

The action taken on manager may boomerang.

Ask everyone from top to bottom to share the penalty decided by the promoters of the company. Set an example and thus a deterrent.   

If the amount is peanuts forget the incidence and rather issue a stern circular and it should set the ball rolling for future.

Sit with the promoters and put an airtight system in place.

Valuable advice of learned experts/members is sought.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the response,

Let me make the fact clear.

1) The manager left job in 31st October 2012.

2) The fraud was highlighted by finance in April 2012.

3) The staff involved has given the confession.

4) The Manager was Authority to make believe the genuinness of the expense, basis the Branch Manager passed the voucher.

5) The actioned is delayed as we were trying to get outstanding from the clients which that Manager brought.

6) The fraud amount is Rs. 5 lakhs

7) The collection from his client is Rs. 10 lakhs which seems to be unrecoverable.

8) We are in Freight forwarding and custom clearance business.

 We are asking our branch Manager to file FIR with local police, but he seems to be reuctant.

Please suggest how do we take the matter legally

Thanks & Regards

Amal Shere

Waiting for your expert advice.

You have posted that:

“4) The Manager was Authority to make believe the genuinness of the expense, basis the Branch Manager passed the voucher.

8) We are in Freight forwarding and custom clearance business.

We are asking our branch Manager to file FIR with local police, but he seems to be reuctant.”

There is nothing like “Make Believe”. Due Diligence is the duty of all personnel involved from junior manger to the last person up in the hierarchy up to MD.

It is felt that you have an army of arm chair mangers and you need to pluck them out of their chairs and send them to market at least say….15 working days a month and then own them their decisions.

 The BM is reluctant as he must be aware that the complaint may boomerang on him and company.

Are you new to the company??? May be that you have investigated and the whole matter is result of your findings and possible you have extracted confession out of sales staff.

This confession may or may not stand as the persons who have written confession may state later {it seems they shall} that confession was extracted out of them forcibly with in premises of the office.

First of all recover the payments from customers for the amounts minus deductions.

Levy a penalty on one and all including this BM, and set the course for future. Introduce proper checks and balances.

Probably in your trade there are lot of underhand expenses which are given the shape of legitimate expenses in the shape of so called Misc. Expenses voucher.

Do you think that a huge amount can be adjusted in the books by virtue of Misc. Expenses voucher? If this is permissible then every body shall love to do it.

Your CA or auditors may not agree. They may suggest a % limit of total expenses.

Do not open the Pandora box. Once sales staff is pulled to Thanas and courts skeletons may start rolling out of cup boards. Your company may get exposed.

Kindly weigh all pros and cons.

HR should always take balance decisions and protect the company from litigation and consequences of litigation.

However if you are under pressure to initiate legal action or if you are inclined to initiate  litigation you may show all record and docs to a lawyer at your location and proceed as per advice of your lawyer. Your lawyer may find some merits in the docs and may suggest litigating.

Valuable advice of learned experts/members is sought.