Revenge in riches - scorned finance worker Rajina Subramaniam helped herself to $45 million
Haul ... alleged serial fraudster Rajina Subramaniam / Pic: Adam Taylor Source: The Daily Telegraph
RAJINA Subramaniam was a dutiful employee of the financial group ING for 20 years, but her belief that she was "abused" in the workplace turned her loyalty into resentment and a quest for revenge, a court was told yesterday.
Not content with a small-scale operation to get back at her bosses, the Castle Hill woman undertook one of the country's largest ever individual fraud operations - and netted more than $45 million to spend on a cache of designer items.
The extent of Subramaniam's five-year scheme was revealed in Central Local Court yesterday, when she pleaded guilty to 26 fraud charges.
The immense size of the deceit was matched only by the range of clothing, jewellery and cosmetics she purchased from designers including Chanel, Hugo Boss, Tiffany and Paspaley Pearls. The spending spree also included eight apartments at Bondi Beach, Kirribilli and the city, the court was told.
Documents before the court state that Subramaniam, in her role as a senior accounts manager, had access to ING's online banking system and could use two identities that enabled her to "generate the illegal transfers" with plausible labels.
In total, more than $11 million was siphoned from ING accounts and paid to a range of top designers, with documents revealing Subramaniam achieved "VIP customer status" at Paspaley, Chanel and Hugo Boss "as an extremely wealthy customer".
She was arrested after representatives from Paspaley informed ING of a $2.5 million payment from her to buy diamonds at a coming auction, documents say.
During a police raid at her office, boxes filled with "extremely delicate jewellery" were found, including a 6.6 carat diamond ring from Bvlgari.
The court heard that more than 600 pieces of jewellery, a 900ml bottle of Chanel No.5 perfume, 20 pieces of Swarovski crystal and a 1500ml bottle of vintage Dom Perignon champagne were in her haul.
As a reason for her behaviour, documents reveal Subramaniam claimed she had been abused in the workplace "and had a lot of revenge and resentment towards ING".
She will face the District Court on July 1, when a date will be set for sentencing.
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