Woman could be facing jail after conning East Lothian company out of half a million pounds
A fraudster conned her employers out of more than £500,000 after she invented fake employees and had their wages paid into her own bank account.
Viktorija Lukjanova used the names of family members for two of the the bogus workers and forged time sheets and invoices to defraud bosses at agricultural company East Lothian Produce Ltd.
Lukjanova, 36, was employed as a pack house manager and was in charge of processing the documents used to pay the agency workers used by the company. The mother-of-two, of Ormiston, East Lothian, was caught out when a manager recognised two of the names being used were members of Lukjanova’s own family.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the Latvian national denied any wrongdoing claiming the surnames were very common in her homeland and the workers were no relation to her. But during an investigation Lukjanova admitted she had used the family names to cover for two agency workers who did not have the proper documentation to work in the UK.
She also admitted she was using her own bank account to have the workers’ wages paid into. She later claimed she had shared the stolen cash with a second employee and after being sacked for gross misconduct the matter was reported to the police.
East Lothian Produce is a family-owned vegetable processing, packing and marketing business that supplies customers throughout Europe and is based on the outskirts of Haddington, East Lothian.
Lukjanova pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a total of £550,000 from the company over a three year period when she appeared at the capital court on Thursday, January 22.
Prosecutor Morgan Beattie told the court Lukjanova was first employed by East Lothian Produce in 2011 and promoted to pack house manager in 2019. She was responsible for liaising with the external employment agencies that supplied workers for the packing process and managed the time sheets and invoices used to pay them.
Ms Beattie said concerns were raised by a manager about the identity of several agency workers and “a fact finding meeting” into the matter was held in January 2024.
The court heard the manager told Lukjanova CCTV at the pack house would be checked to confirm if the workers had been present and she had stated “I’m going to jail”.
The fiscal said: “She went to on to say people had been added to the time sheets who were not working at the pack house. She stated that [two women] had never worked in the pack house.
“She stated the wages had been paid into her own Resolute bank account and stated a colleague knew this was happening and was also receiving money.”
Lukjanova was sacked from the company following the investigation and the police were alerted to the fraud in February 2024. Sheriff Graeme Watson told Lukjanova he was willing to grant her bail but warned that “all sentencing options including custody will be open” when she returns to court.
Sentence was deferred for the preparation of a social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to next month.
Lukjanova pleaded guilty to pretending that agency staff worked at East Lothian Produce and produced time sheets and invoices of said pretence and induced the company to pay wages to the value of £550,000 into bank accounts she had access to and obtained the cash by fraud on various occasions between January 2, 2021 and February 25, 2024.