Top financial controller of collapsed fashion label Alice McCall is accused of stealing more than $340,000 from Australian company
- Maurice Egbert faces three charges over alleged theft
- Alice McCall went into liquidation in February
The former financial controller of the now liquidated Australian fashion brand Alice McCall has been accused of stealing more than $340,000 from the company.
Maurice Egbert, 52, is facing three charges after police accused him of making 290 payments from the firm to his own bank account in less than three years.
Police claim Egbert used false invoices to suppliers to disguise the payments made from Alice McCall, which once had 14 stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The former financial controller of the now liquidated Australian fashion brand Alice McCall allegedly stole around $340,000 from the company. Alice McCall is pictured
At the time of his alleged theft, the firm was accumulating the huge debts that eventually brought it down.
The Australian fashion label went into liquidation in February owing more than $1million to its creditors.
The alleged payments were uncovered when the company’s general manager Brett Robbins reviewed its expenses in April 2022, police claim.
Court documents alleged Mr Robbins saw Alice McCall’s spending on stock was far higher than expected and that those suppliers were not actually being used by the company.
An internal investigation allegedly revealed the money had been paid to three bank accounts belonging to Egbert, police allege in the documents.
Court documents allege part of Egbert’s job was to pay suppliers using an online portal connected to the company’s bank accounts.
Ms McCall, Mr Robbins and the firm’s head of operations questioned Egbert about the payments on May 5, 2022.
Egbert allegedly told them he used the money to ‘support a gambling addiction’ and was ‘paying someone off’, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Egbert was charged by the South Sydney Proactive Crime team in December and faced Downing Centre Local Court on February 13.
His lawyer Omar Juweinat told the court the police claims would need to be closely scrutinised.
‘The facts are somewhat complicated and will require an analysis of the banking records together with the material available to the liquidators to determine whether the quantum is properly established,’ he said.
Alice McCall suffered financially with Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and went into administration in November 2020.
Its financial position failed to improve and the company was subsequently put into liquidation with reported debts of $1.1million.
More than half of that, $677,000, was owed to the Australian Taxation Office.
When her fashion brand was liquidated Ms McCall said: ‘It is time to close the doors, making space for a new chapter in my life.
‘I want to say thank you and acknowledge all the people that have worn, supported and loved the brand,’ she wrote on social media.
Egbert is due to return to court in May.
Maurice Egbert, 52, is facing three charges after police accused him of making 290 payments from Alice McCall to his own bank account over less than three years. Pictured are models wearing Alice McCall-designed clothes
