A non-resident worker from mainland China with a taste for the high-life but no talent for covering his tracks has been arrested for embezzlement.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said that the 35-year-old suspect, surnamed Lu, who had worked as a manager in a trading company in NAPE since 2018, purloined 440,000 yuan (MOP 524,000) and dozens of bottles of expensive wine from his employer.
When Lu’s local employer was checking on the company’s sales records on 18 June she discovered that the wine stocks and balance sheet did not match and confronted Lu who was responsible for them. 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 to the company’s bank account to withdraw large sums for company payments and restocking purposes.
According to Lei, last October Lu withdrew 755,000 yuan (MOP 900,000) without the permission of his employer to purchase expensive wines. 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.
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 mainland China.
Lu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office yesterday, facing an abuse-of-trust charge involving a large amount of money, The Macau Post Daily reported.
