Ex-Salesman charged with $16K Coca-Cola embezzlement

A36-year-old man charged with the embezzlement of $16,335.35 from Coca-Cola Amatil Company Limited in Labasa was yesterday remanded by the Labasa Magistrates Court. Nilesh Chand, a former sales representative at the company, appeared before Magistrate Timoci Qalinauci.

Police prosecutor Vignesh Prasad requested the court to impose the following conditions if the accused was to be granted bail.

Mr Prasad said one was for the accused to provide two sureties while the other was to report to the Labasa Police Station once every fortnight.

However, the accused failed to provide any sureties after Magistrate Qalinauci asked him.

The case

The matter was initially reported on August 16, 2017, where the credit officer at the company reported that the accused allegedly collected $16,335.35 from various shop outlets around the Northern Division and had failed to hand over the money to the company.

This is after the credit officer checked his accounts in January and found out that some customers had pending accounts.

The credit officer then made visits to the different customers who all confirmed that they had already made their payments.

The customers also alleged that the accused had also failed to issue them receipts.

The case was adjourned to December 3, for mention. The accused was further remanded.