Gambling addiction and the negative impact it could have on the individual and their both personal and professional relationships is among the highly discussed aspects of the issue. It was the driving factor of a CA$1.2 million fraud that a Kelowna woman committed over the span of six years. This week saw Colleen Dhuga plead guilty to one of the charges of fraud over CA$5,000, for her fraudulent activities involving the falsifying of cheques and taking advantage of company credit cards between 2008 and 2014.
When it comes to problem gambling, players are often struggling to find the money needed for continuing their regular gaming. This might have been one of the main incentives for Mrs. Dhuga, 50 to take advantage of the four companies she worked at back then. Three of them are based in Calgary, Alberta, while the fourth one was located in British Columbia. Her original position was of a bookkeeper for David Anderson back in 1995, but as time progressed she obtained authority managing the group of companies including Winsome Capital Inc., EmberClear Inc., Winsome Oil Marketing, and Immersive Media Corp.
Fraudulent Scheme Fuels Gambling Habits
This gave her the freedom to take advantage of the situation and make nearly 500 withdrawals from the credit cards of the corporation, money that was later spent on various purchases. In addition to that, she also forged around 200 cheques with Mr. Anderson’s signature. Later on, the said cheques saw money going straight into her own bank account. This guaranteed her lavish lifestyle over the span of those six years.
She enjoyed the finer things in life with vacations to exotic locations, dining at expensive restaurants across the province, personal purchases, as well as unlimited spending at gambling venues that she was particularly fond of. She was very inventive when it comes to her fraudulent scheme, as she insisted on being the only employee accessing emails from the Royal Bank of Canada. She also used her authority to create false accounting records efficiently covering her tracks.
The overall amount of money spent by Mrs. Dhuga by the time her crime was discovered reached CA$1,190,275.01 and what made it obvious was the suspicious activity related to the said bank accounts. Several years after her forgery first started, the bank addressed the problematic situation in 2014 which later unearthed the criminal practices she had been conducting uninterrupted. The allegations issued back then echoed across Alberta, attracting more eyeballs to the case.
Two Reports Would Aid Sentence Ordering
Extensive investigation on the subject revealed the true scale of her crimes. The cheques only amounted to some CA$511,000 stolen from Winsome Capital Inc. Back then Calgary police alleged that the individual was involved in fraud over CA$5,000, theft over CA$5,000, as well as and money laundering. At that point, the names of the companies involved in the scheme remained undisclosed but were later on issued publicly.
Soon after the allegations were made Mrs. Dhuga admitted that her gambling habits were getting out of hand which had prompted her to take advantage of the money in corporate bank accounts. What should also be taken into account is that up until this point no portion of the money she stole was retrieved, but she admitted to the crime. This week was a special one, as it saw her pleading guilty before Calgary Provincial Court Judge Anne Brown.
Now it is time for a couple of reports that would aid future decision-making. Judge Brown wants to ensure that the sentence issued would be a reasonable one based on arguments and evidence, which is why she ordered that a pre-sentence report is issued in the upcoming weeks. In addition to that, a special risk assessment would aim to establish Mrs. Dhuga’s ability to perform her work duties. Her gambling addiction is a serious issue that would need the attention of experts positively affecting it.
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