A fraudulent scheme where customers’ accounts were billed for building materials never delivered to them was recently uncovered by a warehouse company in Savaii. 

The 36-year-old former employee of the Bluebird Lumber and Hardware Company in Savaii was involved in the illegal activity and was sentenced by the Supreme Court on Tuesday this week. 

Faaonea Uaita of Salelologa and Vaipua worked at Bluebird for 14 years and was responsible for setting up customer's accounts with the company which can be directly charged for orders. 

The mother of three faced four counts of theft as a servant and five counts of forgery. 

Because of her role, she was able to generate tax invoices and debit the relevant customer accounts with building materials delivered to her home and to another client she owed money. 

According to the police summary of facts, a Vaipua resident by the name of Faualau Fatufala who was in New Zealand wired $11,000 to the defendant intended to purchase building materials. 

The money transfer was done in June this year. The building materials were not delivered by July and the customer turned up at the Savaii store to confront the defendant.

Ms. Uaita told the customer the materials would be delivered but a police investigation found that she had already used the $11,000 to purchase a car engine and had spent the rest of the money. 

In her attempt to cover up for the money she had already spent, the defendant used her position to get building materials worth $7200 delivered to the Vaipua customer’s house. 

However, there was no invoice generated and no payment was made to Bluebird. It was only discovered when the delivery driver saw that the materials would be taken to Vaipua and the purchase was charged to Account A, a company in Gataivai.  

The driver reported the matter to the manager and the order was cancelled followed by an investigation. 

The defendant in several instances from May this year accessed the company’s system, purchased kitchen materials and charged it to a customer account registered with Bluebird. 

The items were then collected and taken to her house where she used them to renovate her kitchen. 

During sentencing, Judge Justice Fepuleai Ameperosa Roma took three years as the starting point and deducted time for the defendant’s guilty plea, prior good character and circumstances that she cares for an elderly mother and three children. 

She was convicted and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment.