Ex-Adelaide Brighton Cement credit manager Glenda Burgess appears in court on $12.5 million fraud charges
A former senior employee at Adelaide Brighton Cement charged with defrauding the company of $12.5 million plans to plead not guilty, her lawyer says.
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A woman charged with defrauding her employer out of $12.5 million has appeared in court for the first time — and plans to plead not guilty to the alleged crime.
Glenda Ivy Burgess, 61, of Hillbank was the credit manager at Adelaide Brighton Cement when she allegedly falsified the company’s business records over an eight-year period between 2009 and 2017.
She is charged with 200 offences over her alleged conduct and appeared briefly in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Outside court her lawyer, John Pearce, said his client was traumatised by the court process.
“This is a distressing experience for Glenda,” he said.
“It’s going to be a long, drawn-out process, please do not do anything to make it any more distressing for her.”
He said his client would be denying the charges.
“She will be entering a plea of not guilty in due course. That’s all we can say at this stage, it’s not appropriate otherwise to discuss the matter.
“The matter will take a long time to resolve. Nothing more to be done in the interim I’m afraid.
“We are in the hands of the prosecution and these matters go very slowly.”
The matter will return to court in late February, when prosecutors are expected to have finalised a preliminary brief.
Magistrate Greg Fisher told Burgess her lawyer would go through that information with her.
He said she would then “have an opportunity to enter pleas of guilty to the charge on the next occasion if that’s what you are advised to do”.
Serious and Organised Financial Crime Investigation Section detectives charged Burgess after a lengthy investigation, which was revealed by The Advertiser last September.