Cerebra uncovered irregularities committed by an accounting manager using fake physical documents and journal entries

SITUATION 

Our client, one of Turkey’s leading real estate investment companies, suspected an employee in the accounting and administrative affairs department of committing irregularities on reported expenses. Cerebra was assigned to investigate these suspicions. 

OUR SOLUTION 

We initially evaluated the suspicions and details of the matter with the company’s board member and general manager. From our discussions, we understood that the suspect, having worked at the company for many years, exerted pressure on the accounting department employees. We also learned that the suspect left the company shortly before the investigation began, citing an unreasonable excuse. 

Given the suspect’s seniority, influence over other employees, extensive access rights to the accounting system, and the concentration of critical tasks in one person, we began examining the documents. We quickly reviewed the advance accounts, expense forms submitted to the company for these advances, and the supporting documents. 

Through forensic accounting techniques and investigation methods, we obtained the following evidence: 

• Numerous fake and altered expense documents and bank receipts 

• Fictitious or non-compliant journal entries made to conceal fraudulent transactions 

• The same expense documents fraudulently reported multiple times in expense forms 

Furthermore, we found that the suspect had convinced another employee in the administrative department to perform fraudulent transactions and was also in secret collusion with another employee to commit fraud. 

As a result of our investigation, we calculated our client’s total loss to be approximately 350,000 USD. 

We promptly assessed our findings with the company’s senior management, and we concluded that there is a reasonable probability that the suspect has committed the act in question and therefore it has been decided to conduct an admission-seeking interview of the suspect. We made a detailed preparation, considering the evidence we have, and the fraudulent actions committed, to elicit a proper admission. Then, we conducted an interview with the suspect at the Cerebra office. 

As a result of the interview, the suspect confessed to the fraudulent activities and provided a written statement at the end of the meeting. 

Throughout the investigation, we coordinated closely with the client’s in-house legal counsel and an external lawyer. 

Following the investigation, we prepared a fraud examination report that detailed the irregularities committed by the suspects, the methods they used to conceal the fraud, their secret collaborations, and our client’s losses, supported by evidence.  

OUR IMPACT 

The suspect confessed and promised to cover the losses but later did not make any repayment. Consequently, legal action was taken against all suspects, and the lawyers submitted the Cerebra report as evidence in the lawsuit. 

During the litigation process, the expert appointed by the judge reviewed our report and held two meetings with the Cerebra fraud examination team to evaluate our findings. The expert fully agreed with our findings and submitted a report supporting our conclusions to the court. 

As a result of the trial, our client won the case against the suspects and successfully recovered a significant portion of their losses.