A jury trial is underway for three former SaskTel managers accused of fraud and theft.
The trial for Joan Yasinowski, Barry Richardson and Dan Crites began with opening arguments by the Crown and defence Wednesday at Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina.
The Crown alleges the trio set up a shell company called “Green Really Works” as part of a scheme to overcharge SaskTel for assembling maxTV set-top boxes.
Crown prosecutor Dana Brule said the three former SaskTel managers set the price for the untendered work and approved invoices from the company they had created.
The boxes were being assembled in a third-party warehouse by children of the accused, who were paid $200 an hour – well above market wages, Brule said.
It’s also alleged that the three accused bought themselves golf clubs, bicycles and signed apparel on SaskTel’s dime, and claimed the merchandise was for promotional use.
However, defence lawyer Bob Hrycan said his clients had been under pressure from upper management to assemble the new set-top boxes ahead of SaskTel’s switch to digital TV.
Hrycan said SaskTel “turned a blind eye” to the conflict of interest surrounding Green Really Works. He suggested the Crown-owned telecommunications company was more focused on getting the new boxes to customers quickly to preserve its market share.
SaskTel was getting good value for its money under the arrangement, Hrycan said, adding that while his clients showed bad judgment, their actions were not criminal.
Yasinowski, Richardson and Crites each face two counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of theft over $5,000.
The charges stem from an RCMP investigation that was launched in November 2009 after SaskTel forwarded the results of an internal probe to police.
The Crown expects to call more than 20 witnesses during the trial, which is scheduled to last two weeks.
