Gleaner- The former senior manager at the National Commercial Bank (NCB), who admitted to swindling $34 million from the financial institution,  has been sentenced to a total of seven years and six months in prison.

Andrea Gordon, 52, was sentenced to five years and four months on three counts of larceny as a servant, two years and 11 months on three counts of access with intent to commit an offence, and to seven years and six months on seven counts of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.

Her fate was decided by Justice Lorna Shelly Williams in the Home Circuit Court who ruled that her sentences are to run concurrently.

The mother of two appeared remorseful and ashamed as she sat in the prisoner’s dock.

The once highly-respected bank manager previously pleaded guilty in April and was remanded.

The court heard that Gordon’s criminal behaviour was discovered in June 2020 after the bank received intelligence that she had been conducting fraudulent transactions.

Based on subsequent investigations, it was discovered that she transferred money from the bank’s internal system to her personal accounts and also to her family members as well as accounts belonging to customers.

Gordon had used the funds to purchase items including clothing, handbags and to fund construction work on her Coolwater Havendale premises in St Andrew.

However, when confronted about the embezzlement, Gordon told investigators that she took the money to assist a relative who had cancer and also because she was going through financial difficulties after she started building her home in 2017.

The court had previously heard that NCB had linked $111 million in suspicious transactions to Gordon.

However, the indictment on which she was sentenced only accounted for $34 million over the period 2017 to 2020.

Gordon, who worked at NCB’s Atrium headquarters, was employed to the bank for 30 years and at the time of the offence was earning $11.1 million per year.

Attorney-at-law Vincent Wellesley represented Gordon.

In the meantime, a July 9 date has been scheduled for a case management hearing pertaining to an application for a forfeiture and pecuniary penalty order that has been filed by the Financial Investigation Division.

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