The complex family situation and the high accumulated debts are the reasons that a woman gave to justify the appropriation of almost 38,000 euros from the accounts of the Association of Mothers and Fathers (Ampa) of the Zaragoza public school where her daughters went, an organization of which was treasurer for eight years (2013-2021). However, the prosecutor raises the amount of the stolen amount to almost 90,000 euros and requests a sentence of six and a half years in prison for misappropriation and falsification of documents.
During the process held in the Provincial Court of Zaragoza, Pilar B. R., a bakery clerk by profession, admitted yesterday Tuesday that it is “possible” that she appropriated 37,815 euros over those eight years, according to the newspaper Heraldo de Aragón .
The lack of forcefulness in his statement is due to the fact that he says he does not know exactly how much money he took while he held that position. “Maybe between 2,500 and 3,000 euros a year,” he declared, which would give a maximum figure of 24,000 euros. However, the accused returned 29,438 euros to the school before being denounced and, according to her own accounts and those of her defense lawyer, she would still need to repay “between 5,000 and 10,000 euros” more.
According to her story, she worked only 15 hours and, although her husband worked full time, they could not cover the special medical needs of their two daughters. This prompted her to use the money from Ampa’s accounts, although she maintains that her intention was to return it. However, the amount stolen did not stop growing, until she finally said that she decided to tell it. “They didn’t catch me, I told the board,” she said.
Regarding the annual accounting, Pilar B. R. admitted that she presented two sheets, one with income and the other with expenses, which the board approved without checking. “I was trying to hide what I was doing,” she admitted.
Her lawyer alleged that her client did not commit any crime because she “did not have the intention of harming” Ampa and repaid the amounts she had appropriated “to the extent possible.” In March 2021, the woman collected the aforementioned 29,438 euros from her family and returned them to Ampa, which reported her four months later.
But these arguments do not convince either the Prosecutor’s Office or the private prosecution, the José Camón Aznar public school. According to the prosecutor’s calculations, the amount looted amounts to 98,704 euros, and she also accuses her of forging the signature of the Ampa secretary on 171 checks.
For this reason, he requests a sentence of six and a half years in prison for the crimes of misappropriation and falsification of documents, although he positively values ??the return of part of the money and asks the court to apply the mitigating circumstance of repairing the damage. The school is even harsher, demanding a sentence of 10 years in prison without any mitigation of any kind.
