The Crown is seeking three to five years in prison for two men who fraudulently diverted almost $1 million from two aboriginal organizations.
The fraud committed by Craig Ashley Morrison, 34, and Dennis James Wells, 55, had a devastating effect on the organizations – the B.C. Aboriginal Fisheries Commission and the Aboriginal Council of B.C. – and their employees, prosecutor Brian McKinley told a sentencing hearing Friday.
The fraud took place over a three-year period ending in 2005 and caused the two organizations to collapse two years later.
“It affected all the reputations of all the people involved,” the prosecutor told B.C. Supreme Court justice Austin Cullen.
Morrison was a trusted bookkeeper and financial manager of the organizations, which had their offices at Park Royal in West Vancouver.
He was the only employee who had access to the computer that held banking records. He diverted the money to his cousin.
“Every month for three years these two accused took money that didn’t belong to them,’ McKinley told the court. “They agreed to split the money evenly between them.”
Morrison, because he was in a position of trust, should be sentenced to four years in prison, the Crown said, while Wells should serve a three-year sentence.
The defence asked the judge to impose conditional sentences of two years less a day, to allow the offenders to serve a sentence of house arrest because both men are aboriginal offenders. The fraud was discovered in 2005 after Morrison was laid off.
The Crown told the judge that there were 199 transactions that diverted a total of $911,932.
The majority, $502,684, was taken from the Aboriginal Fisheries Commission, the rest from the Aboriginal Council of B.C., the prosecutor said.
The purpose of the organizations was to advance the interests of first nations people, with the council providing about $500,000 funding a year to first nations to research land claims, the Crown said.
Most of the money was transferred to Wells’ bank account and forged signatures were used on cheques, which required two signatures.
Bank drafts and large amounts of cash withdrawals were also involved.
The Crown said there were emails between the two men matching the timing of the fraudulent transactions.
One email, for example, had “Hey Dude” in the subject line and asked: I would like to know if you need more noony at the end of this week? I just want my cookie and eat it too.”
“Got busy, how about $4,800,” said the reply email. The same day, $4,913.60 was transferred to Wells.
The two accused pleaded guilty last year to fraud over $5,000. Both men had previous minor criminal records.
Ken Malloway, the chairman of the two organizations for about 20 years, told the court that the organizations eventually went under because of financial problems.
“People’s lives have been devastated by this,” he told the court. “My reputation took quite a hit,” he told the judge during his victim impact statement.
His wife had to go back to work and it caused tension at home as Malloway went into debt to try to save the organizations, he said. “I lost a lot of sleep over this and still do today.”
nhall@vancouversun.com
Article source: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=f8e26725-cfb2-4483-920e-08c26164d6e7&k=22787
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