Embezzlement by clerks or servants

Offence title:

Embezzlement by clerks or servants

Act:

157 Crimes Act (NSW)

Offence:

Any employee or contractor (clerk or servant), who fraudulently embezzles, in whole or part, anything received, delivered to or into possession on behalf of the employer (master), shall be deemed to have been stolen, even though the employer (master) never received possession of it and commits an offence.

Penalty:

Imprisonment 10 years.

Summary/Indictable/mixed:

Mixed

Jurisdiction:

Local, District or Supreme Court.

How committed:

Person A is employed as a retail assistant by company B. Shopper C pays $100 for an item, using two $50 notes. Person A places one note in the till and the other into their pocket.

Important note:

What is embezzlement? In simplistic terms it is the stealing of an item from an employer, before the employer takes possession of the item.

What is a clerk or servant? Every person employed for any purpose, as, or in the capacity of, a clerk, or servant, or as a collector of moneys, although temporarily only, or employed also by other persons, or employed to pay as well as receive moneys, or although the person had no authority from his or her employer to receive money, or other property, on his or her account, shall be deemed a clerk, or servant.

s.161 Proof of general deficiency in accounts: On the prosecution of a person for larceny, or embezzlement as a clerk, or servant, or as a person employed in the Public Service, where the charge is in respect of money, it shall not be necessary to prove the larceny, or embezzlement, by the accused of any specific sum of money, if there is proof of a general deficiency on the examination of the books of account, or entries kept, or made by him or her, or otherwise, and the jury are satisfied that he or she stole, or fraudulently embezzled the deficient money, or any part thereof.

Larceny as a clerk of servant is an alternative verdict to embezzlement.