Leven Woman Jailed For Credit Union Fraud

The "trusted" staff member admitted embezzling almost £80,000 by setting up fake loans.

A court's heard a woman who embezzled almost £80,000 in less than a year from the credit union where she worked was a "trusted" member of staff.
 
Margaret Bond was a respected worker at Kingdom Credit Union, a non-profit group which provides financial products to the public in Fife.
 
Bond set up 42 loans on the firm's systems, paying cash totalling £79,120 into her own bank account between August 9th 2013 and August 7th 2014 at the union's offices in Leven and Glenrothes.

The entire amount remains outstanding with Bond's lawyer pleading with a sheriff not to jail her so she could have time to pay it back.
 
But he sent her to prison for 16 months and said: "This represents a substantial breach of trust."
 
Bond's scam was spotted when a check on interest rates found one of the loans she had given herself was on a far lower interest rate than it should have been.
 
A comprehensive check revealed the full scale of her deception and that none of the loans were being repaid.
 
The 48 year old even paid the money into the same bank account she had her salary from the union paid into.
 
Fiscal depute Lindsey Armstrong told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court Bond had worked at the union since 2009, and was one of a "limited, select" group of staff with access to it's online banking service.
  
Bond from Leven pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement.