A Lundin Links woman is facing a jail sentence after embezzling almost £80,000 from the credit union where she worked.
Margaret Bond, 48, took out 42 separate loans over a 12-month period when she worked at the Kingdom Credit Union in Methilhill.
Appearing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Bond, of Keilburn, admitted a charge of embezzlement totalling £79,120.
The court heard Bond had worked at the non-profit organisation since 2009 and was one of only a handful of employees able to access its online banking services.
However, between August 2013 and August 2014, she had arranged loans to be paid into her account with reduced rates of interest.
The crime first came to light during a check by the union, with further investigations discovering that the loans were being paid into the same bank account used by Bond for her salary.
Depute fiscal Lindsey Armstrong said: “Records show which individual member of staff has carried out the transactions on an account.
“Following a check on interest rates, a particular loan was highlighted as having a lower interest rate than it should have.
“On further investigation it was discovered the paperwork that should have accompanied this particular loan was missing. This raised suspicion and further inquiries were made.
“It was noted that this loan and a number of others had been processed by the accused and that the money for these loans had been paid into the same bank account that her salary was paid into.
“A comprehensive check was carried out, which revealed 42 loans had been paid into her account, all processed by her. The loans were not being repaid.”
Dewar Spence, defending, said that many of the loans had been taken out to repay previous loans, suggesting that the £79,120 was an inflated figure.
“She has offered to repay some of the monies but that hasn’t happened yet,” he told the court.
“My understanding, from her, was that when she created certain loans, some of them immediately repaid other loans she had created.
“However, she was repaying the credit union with its own money.”
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist deferred sentence until next month for the completion of a social work report.
Picture by David Wardle