4 years jail for thieving bank officer [1]
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - 16:01. Updated on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 09:37.
A pregnant mother of two who stole $25,000 while working for the ANZ bank in Tonga, will spend the next four years in Hu'atolitoli Prison.
In sentencing Tonga Laulotu Fukofuka (27), at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court on July 31, Chief Justice Anthony Ford also ordered that the five months pregnant prisoner should be given the proper medical treatment that she required.
Fukofuka was found guilty on three counts of theft, fraud and embezzling approximately $25,000 pa'anga from various bank accounts while working for the ANZ bank in 2007. She was originally charged with five offences totaling $360,000 but was found not guilty on two charges.
The court was told that Fukofuka, a mother of two, had separated from her husband, and was in a defacto relationship.
During a jury trial earlier this year she pleaded not guilty to the offences.
The Crown counsel was Sione Sisifa, while Clive Edwards represented the accused.