Bank Employee who stole $1.2m sentenced to 6 years in prison

By Lagi Keresoma

Apia, SAMOA – 08 April 2024: Seira Malifa, a 39 year old former employee of the ANZ Bank is now serving a 6 and half years prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to 306 counts of theft as a servant.

According to the police summary of facts, the amount of money involved in the theft totals $1.2 million and the offence took place within four years from July 2018 to November 2022.

She pleaded guilty to the offence in February 2024.

In passing sentence, Senior Justice Vui Clarence Nelson said the amount stolen is a record in the history of Samoa and the penalty set down by law does not justify the offence especially the amount stolen and Parliament should consider amending the law on this particular provision. The maximum penalty for theft as a servant is 10 years per charge, but in this case, he will issue one sentence.

The defendant never apologised to the victim nor made any attempts to make restitution for the stolen money.

The Offence
The defendant was the manager of the Bank’s loan department at the main branch in Apia.

She supervised 33 staff including senior and new staff.

Justice Nelson said the defendant used her position and banking knowledge to manipulate banking procedures in-order to create fictitious loans and deposit accounts in various names to portray them as legitimate customers of the bank.

She procures and obtains false loans by creating false birth certificates, false confirmation of land valuation documents and false confirmation of jobs within Government and companies.

The loans applied under the false account names were approved by head office based on the defendant’s recommendations, then deposited into various false accounts and the defendant withdrew them later.

A master of deception
According to the victim’s impact assessment report, the defendant has a strong confident personality which resulted in her staff particularly the new ones who were often challenged in following every command and they comply with her instructions.

“She accepted no opposition to her instructions and uses her senior position to bypass the bank’s strict procedures and also influence her staff,” says the impact report.

She is described in the report as a “master of deception who manipulate and bully young and inexperienced staff by using her status as a senior staff.”

The offence has left a mark on the bank’s reputation regionally and internationally especially the trust relationship between the bank and customers.

The Sentence
Justice Nelson said the sentence must carry the weight of the defendant’s actions, and also a message to the community at large of the consequences of such offence.

He said there are ample aggravating factors which place the offence as a serious one.

The starting point for sentence was 9 years with 2 years and 6 months deducted from her early guilty plea, being a first offender and assisting police with their investigation and the time she was in custody.

She was convicted and now serves 6 and half years in prison.