Westpac Embroiled in Lawsuit Against Uniting Church of Australia

Uniting Church of Australia is filing a lawsuit against Westpac Bank after it has allegedly not done something about the theft of over $4 Million of its account.

The scam, which had been taking place for over seven years and was masterminded by an employee of the Uniting Church, had essentially severed the funds of many of the church’s operations all over Melbourne, including its out-reach programs. Fortunately, these programs were not affected, as insurance immediately covered the amount lost.

Early this year, Tanya Jane King was criminally charged in connection to the theft, which had been happening from 2004 through 2011. An audit sometime in 2011 revealed the discrepancies in the church’s account.

Ms. King took her own life even before court proceedings progressed.

A spokesperson for the Uniting Church said, however, that the legal action against Westpac was initiated by its insurance company. As stated in the lawsuit, the bank failed to put a stop to the withdrawals Ms. King has been making, when these were found to be forged. The court documents read, “(Westpac) failed to exercise reasonable care in the conduct and management of the (Church’s) accounts.”

Westpac, meanwhile, is preparing a response to the court documents and have declined to make any further comments.

The church’s accounting firm, Sean Denham & Associates, was also named the defendant in this case, for its failure to detect the discrepancies for several years. They have declined to respond to the media.