A Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court (RTC) found a former employee of the closed Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Family Bank guilty of theft after she illegally accessed the bank’s system which allowed her to create fictitious deposits and transactions

In a statement, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) said Judge Victor R. Aguba of RTC branch 255 of Las Piñas City found the unnamed ex-bank accounting assistant guilty of theft after she took advantage of her position in the bank to access her colleagues’ accounts using their user IDs and passwords to create fake deposits and transactions. 

She also admitted to the former vice president of the GSIS Family Bank’s Branch Banking Group that she made illegal transactions from Nov. 2006 to March 2008 embezzling  P2,138,194.00 from the bank to pay off her loan from her frequent casino gambling.

The ex-bank employee was sentenced to a minimum imprisonment of three years up to a maximum of seven years and five months in violation of Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code.

She was also ordered to pay P1,703,920.00 to the closed GSIS Family Bank representing the funds lost from her fraudulent transactions

The said judgment was issued on May 30.

The GSIS Family Bank was placed under receivership of the PDIC by the Monetary Board on May 13, 2016. The state deposit insurer took over its 21 branches on the same day

The PDIC said it will continue to seek out justice against erring bank owners, officers, “who take advantage of their positions in the bank and even unscrupulous parties who take advantage of the deposit insurance system for their gain.” It added that it will exhaust all legal actions to protect the interests of depositors, safeguarding the Deposit Insurance Fund, and deterring bank officials and individuals from abusing the deposit insurance system. — Xander Lauren Cipriano