A non-resident worker (NRW) from the mainland was arrested on Tuesday for embezzling 440,000 patacas and several dozen bottles of expensive wine from his employer, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
Lei said the 35-year-old suspect surnamed Lu worked as a manager in a trading company in Nape since 2018.
According to Lei, when Lu’s local employer was checking on his company’s sales records on June 18 she discovered that the wine stocks and balance sheet were problematic and later on confronted Lu who was responsible for it. Lei added that Lu admitted to the embezzlement, after which his employer reported the case to the police on Tuesday.
Lei said that Lu had been a trustworthy employee in the eyes of his employer and had been given access of the company’s bank account to withdraw hundreds of thousands of patacas for company payments and restocking purposes. According to Lei, last October Lu withdrew 755,000 yuan (900,000 patacas) without the permission of his employer to purchase expensive wines. Lei said Lu claimed that he had purchased 360 bottles of wine for over 440,000 yuan but claimed that they were never delivered to him, and later deposited 300,000 yuan back into the company’s bank account.
Lei added that Lu had also removed 54 bottles of expensive wines from the company stock with the intention of selling them for a profit. However, he told the police that he had still not sold them but “temporarily” stored the bottles at his home in the mainland.
Lu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing an abuse-of-trust charge involving a large amount of money, according to Lei.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the embezzlement suspect to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters.
– Photo: William Chan
