By Latrishka Thomas
A man who allegedly scammed a car dealership has pleaded not guilty to all of the six charges against him.
Dylan Simon was employed by Hadeed Motors from 1998 until 2020, serving as a clerk and sales representative.
His responsibilities included managing transactions for the sale of both new and used vehicles, handling financial transactions, and issuing receipts and invoices.
According to reports, during the period April 2020 to May 2020 when the country was on lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company executed numerous transactions manually.
When the business reopened in late May that year, the internal auditor conducted routine checks to make sure the transactions made during lockdown were consistent with what was recorded in the accounting software programme.
The auditor apparently noticed some discrepancies with the transactions done by Simon, and reported his findings to the company’s board of directors.
Simon was consequently placed on leave while the matter was being investigated.
It was reportedly discovered that details of some bank deposits were not consistent with the information recorded in the software and that a vehicle had been released from the company.
The investigation led to Simon being arrested and charged with larceny of a Suzuki Vitara, forging a signature on an exit and entry form for said vehicle and uttering the exit and entry form between December 30 2019 and January 3 2020.
He is also accused of inputting inauthentic data with cheque number into Hadeed’s system, obtaining a commission for the sale of the vehicle under false pretences and larceny of a vehicle.
However, the man who is in his 40s denies committing any of the offences.
He is expected to stand trial before Justice Tunde Bakre on January 24.
