An administrative employee faces a prosecutorial request for four and a half years in prison for allegedly misappropriating 63,589.62 euros belonging to homeowners' associations in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The accused allegedly made 31 bank transfers from the affected properties' funds to accounts in her name, a fraud that spanned over a year.
The method employed involved disguising the bank transfers by using the names of regular service providers for the buildings as the transaction description. This way, the investigated individual attempted to avoid raising suspicion among owners and administrators, successfully maintaining the deception until her dismissal.
It was only after her employment relationship with the management company ended that audits and balance inquiries revealed the embezzlement. The company where the accused worked, as the subsidiary responsible party, had to cover the full amount of the stolen money to ensure residents did not lose their funds.
To cope with this disbursement, the management company took out a bank loan of 40,000 euros, incurring an additional 6,009.08 euros in interest and a 200 euro opening commission. To date, the defendant has only returned 5,000 euros.
The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Las Palmas requests that the accused indemnify the entity for a total of 69,798.70 euros in civil liability, a figure that includes the money diverted from the associations and the financial costs derived from the loan the company had to take out.
In addition to the prison sentence, the Public Ministry seeks a ten-month fine with a daily rate of 20 euros. The case, which has caused significant concern in the property management sector in the archipelago, will be tried soon in the Provincial Court of Las Palmas.
