A 31-year-old man has been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Dénia on suspicion of defrauding a wholesale distributor of olive oil, where he was employed, of €70,000. He exploited his position for several years to covertly divert thousands of litres of olive oil under falsified delivery notes, which he subsequently sold illegally on the black market, pocketing the profits.
The Calpe Company’s Specialised Anti-Counterfeit Team (Equipo Roca) initiated an investigation into the matter after receiving a complaint from a wholesale distributor of edible olive and sunflower oil in a town in the Marina Alta region. The distributor’s accounts were inaccurate. The team’s objective was to ascertain the perpetrator of the theft.
During Operation Menbares, agents discovered that an employee had been diverting litres of oil, which he then appropriated by falsifying sales receipts in the names of the company’s regular customers. The oil was then distributed throughout various cities in the province of Alicante. The company did not collect these invoices, and these consumers generated a debt with the company without actually placing an order.
For several years, he exploited his position at the company to engage in this unlawful activity until he was apprehended. The Guardia Civil has identified 61 customers who have been impacted by the seizure of their data for this purpose, with the majority of these customers being catering establishments. The putative perpetrator is suspected of falsifying 98 delivery notes, which have been seized by the Guardia Civil.
He subsequently sold the company’s oil on the illegal market without invoicing it, after appropriating it using the falsified delivery notes. Agents have identified the theft of 17,300 litres of oil, valued at €56,800, following numerous hours of documentation compilation, analysis, and review.
Furthermore, he fraudulently retained a portion of the proceeds from legal transactions he conducted in the course of his responsibilities, resulting in the misappropriation of over €14,000. He is accused of defrauding the company of over €70,000 in total, which does not include the harm to the brand’s reputation.
A 31-year-old man employed by the affected company was apprehended in the town of Dénia on July 3rd. He is accused of impersonating the civil status of a legal entity, falsifying documents, and misappropriating funds. Additionally, he has been terminated from his position.
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