Chartered accountant Cristina Ionita sentenced for stealing millions from Westgate Medical Group

A crooked accountant who swindled almost $5m from a series of medical practices across Melbourne may never be forced to cough up all the stolen cash, a court has heard.

Ionita was sentenced in County Court. Generic image. Picture: Diego Fedele.

A crooked accountant, who swindled millions from a hard working doctor and “crushed” his dreams of a financially secure retirement after he sympathised with her difficult upbringing, may never return all the money she stole, a court has heard.

Cristina Ionita, 56, will spend at least three and a half years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to six counts of theft.

The court heard the victims would have “no prospect” of recovering the “enormous” sums of money — totalling almost $5m — which Ionita stole while she was working as a chartered accountant for her business IQ Accountants.

Cristina Ionita. Picture: LinkedIn.

Ionita’s brazen theft occurred between January 2015 and June 2019.

Ionita, who was employed by Dr Feda Eqbal to help manage the books at Westgate Medical Group, stole $5,855,790 from the company — an average of $25,240 a week.

She transferred from a variety of doctor’s practices, as well as Dr Eqbal and his wife’s personal bank accounts, into a series of accounts she controlled.

She later transferred $871,000 back to Westgate Medical Group.

Ionita stole millions from medical practices. Generic image.

Ionita was caught when a new chief financial officer arrived at Westgate Medical Group and noticed inexplicable transfers and irregularities in the financial records.

Since her theft was discovered, claims have been made in the Supreme Court for Ionita to return the almost $5m.

Only $719,568 has been recovered to date and the court heard the victims had “no prospect” and receiving the remaining millions.

Ionita was sentenced at the County Court. Picture: Diego Fedele.

At the sentencing, Judge Amanda Chambers detailed the “gross breach of trust” committed by Ionita.

The court heard Ionita, who emigrated from Romania in 2007, met Dr Eqbal not long after she arrived in Australia.

Dr Eqbal, who had arrived from Afghanistan as a refugee and worked overnight in factories to earn his medical qualifications, had sympathised with Ionita’s “harrowing stories” of her life in Romania, a court heard.

He offered Ionita a job, only to now be left with significant debts and little hope of recovering the money.

He told the court his dreams of a financially secure retirement were “crushed”.

Judge Chambers told the court Ionita, who received a good salary as an accountant, was not motivated by need.

“This was not one-off impulsive offending,” Judge Chambers said.

Although it was unclear exactly how Ionita had spent the millions, the court heard the accountant bore “a high level of moral culpability” for her offending.

Ionita, who had no previous criminal convictions, was diagnosed with complex PTSD and learnt how to “become a survivor” after her difficult upbringing, the court heard.

She was convicted and sentenced to five years and nine months behind bars, with a three and a half year non-parole period.