Man faces 69 counts of qualified theft charges

CEBU - Prosecutors yesterday filed before the Regional Trial Court 69 counts of qualified theft charges against an employee of Gillamac’s Marketing Inc. for allegedly misappropriating money amounting to at least P768,500.

The respondent, Mario Cuico, member of the company’s treasury department staff, needs to raise P2.1 million as bail for his temporary liberty.

Gillamac’s, through its Internal Audit Head Lorienita Tan, filed the complaint against Cuico after it was discovered that the latter allegedly manipulated certain documents and stole large sums of money amounting to P768,500.

Cuico has been entrusted with the company’s money for the past 12 years.

In her affidavit, Tan said they discovered that Cuico allegedly manipulated company records by delaying the issuance of official receipts for each payment and falsely declaring the dates of the checks he received.

Cuico allegedly converted 69 checks to cash that the company received from one of its affiliates. Tan said Cuico employed the “lapping” scheme or the use of subsequent receipts as cover up for the prior amounts that he had received and misappropriated.

Cuico had denied the charges, saying he never embezzled anything. He argued that if there was a discrepancy in the audit report, it is because the audit has yet to be completed.

During preliminary investigation, however, Cuico could not explain why the subject checks had to be converted to cash and where the money went.— Jasmin R. Uy/JMO