Kamaljeet Kaur Gill jailed for stealing $650k in funds from Victoria University
A serial fraudster who swindled more than $650,000 from university funds to compensate for her low self-esteem will spend at least two years behind bars. Here’s how she almost pulled off the elaborate scheme.
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A serial fraudster who swindled more than $650,000 from university funds to compensate for her low self-esteem will spend at least two years behind bars.
Kamaljeet Kaur Gill was charged with fraud following an anti-corruption investigation into her lengthy and sophisticated scam while working at Victoria University.
Over the course of almost four years Gill, now 51, forged colleagues’ signatures and faked invoices from the university to obtain hundreds of EFTPOS gift cards to the tune of $614,000.
The mother-of-two also stole $36,500 worth of Coles/Myer gift cards owned by the university to fund her impulsive shopping habits and buy her children expensive gifts, the County Court this week heard.
Gill, who was employed as an executive assistant at the time, ordered the gift cards under the guise of a “fake marketing program”, pretending the cards were to be used to entice potential students to the university’s Footscray campus.
Instead, Gill pocketed the lot - with less than $100 left on the gift cards when investigators caught up with her in November 2018.
An Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption investigation saw Gill charged with misconduct in public office, obtaining financial advantage by deception and theft, each offence carrying a maximum 10 year jail term.
In sentencing Gill to three years and six months in prison, Judge Howard Mason said the sophisticated scam was “a great breach of trust”.
“The offending was calculated, involved careful planning and detailed preparation,” Judge Mason said.
“It involved very significant amounts of money over an extended period of time,” his honour said.
The court heard Gill had paid the entirety of the stolen funds back in full with the aid of her parents and brother-in-law, but she would also likely need to sell her family home in the near future.
Judge Mason acknowledged the death of Gill’s first husband and her young son’s ongoing health issues weighed heavily on her feelings of low self-esteem and personal failure.
His honour took into account Gill’s early guilty plea, remorse, lack of criminal history and good rehabilitation prospects when ordering a non-parole period of two years.
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