A disgruntled Aberdeen builder spent £40,000 on a dental surgery’s credit card in a bid to reclaim money he says he was due.
Pawel Lukczwics had been carrying out works at a St Andrews property for Shetland Surgery Ltd, but costs quickly rose and a pay dispute broke out.
Unhappy at not receiving the payment he felt he was due, Lukczwics took matters into his own hands.
The 35-year-old used the dental firm’s credit card, which he’d been given to buy materials, and struck a deal to pay £40,000 to another company in Ellon, who would then give him cash.
However, the sizeable transaction was quickly noted by Shetland Surgery and they managed to stop the payment from going through.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Lukczwics had been given the credit card to make purchases mainly from B&Q and Screwfix and was supposed to seek authorisation where possible.
Lukczwics and the dental firm verbally agreed a figure for the whole works to be carried out and he was paid £13,060 over the course of January and February.
Mr Middleton said: “This was pursuant to their agreed payment plan which was based around job progress and completion.
“There were then discussions between the parties regarding increased costs.
“The amount of increased costs is still in dispute between the parties.
‘It would never have worked’
“The complainer does not accept that the figure was £40,000 but does accept that parties were not agreed on the figure that the accused considered outstanding.”
On March 7 2019, Lukczwics advised he needed a further £3,000 for the works.
However, Shetland Surgery only transferred £2,000 as it was believed there was still a significant amount of work to be done.
Following this, there were “several disputes” between the parties regarding the progress of the work.
Just before the offence was committed, a partner at the dental firm carried out an inspection and concluded there was still significant work outstanding.
On March 12 2019, the partner was notified by a colleague that £40,000 was missing from the business bank account.
Mr Middleton said: “He contacted his bank and discovered that the money had been two transactions of £20,000 to a company called Xcell Plastics in Ellon.
“He contacted Xcell Plastics and was advised that the accused had contacted them by telephone to make arrangements to make two payments of £20,000 over the telephone using the card details provided by the accused.
“These payments were to effectively settle an outstanding debt that the accused had with another company, and the payments were made to its business account.
“These companies were unaware that the complainer’s card had been used.”
The £40,000 payment was identified as fraudulent before it was processed and the money was recovered in full.
Lukczwics pled guilty to a charge of theft.
Defence agent Mike Monro said his client is a self-employed builder and would subcontract others to work with him.
He said Lukczwics had done work for Shetland Surgery previously and had a “good working relationship” with the company.
‘Not a financial guru’
Mr Monro said: “He had free reign with the credit card within reason and used it primarily for buying equipment and such like.
“The contract, and I use that word loosely because there has never been a written contract for the building in St Andrews, is that invoices would be given to the extent of approximately £20,000-25,000.
“That, however, was not going to be the complete sum due.”
Mr Monro said there were more discussions but that the complainer maintained the amount involved was “nowhere near £40,000”.
He said: “My client maintains that, as of March 2019, that was the sum of money he was due.”
The solicitor told the court the credit card could not be used to withdraw money or to transfer it directly to Lukczwics’ account.
Mr Monro continued: “On that basis, this innocent other company became involved.”
Lukczwics tried to transfer £40,000 to Xcell Plastics with the plan being that the money would effectively wipe out a small debt, and the overpayment, understood to be almost all of it, would be paid to Lukczwics.
Mr Monro said his client was “not a financial guru”, adding: “It would never have worked.
“The dental practice would have seen £40,000 had been removed from their account and had been sent to a company they’d never heard of.
‘Not entitled to proceed in this cavalier and indeed criminal fashion’
“It was immediately stopped.
“The accused got no financial gain from this. How he ever thought, along with anybody else, that it would be successful beggars belief.
“He, incredibly, was still physically working the job at St Andrews.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “I can see how someone in your client’s position might think he was being unfairly treated, but of course, there are remedies open to him to address that.
“What he did here was just put his hand in and say ‘right, I’m having this’.
“A significant factor in this is that no loss occurred.”
Addressing Lukczwics, of Hilton Place, Aberdeen,he said: “You obviously intended to get his sum of money for reasons which you thought were perhaps justified.
“You were not, of course, entitled to proceed in this cavalier and indeed criminal fashion, and that’s why you find yourself before the court.”
As a direct alternative to prison, the sheriff ordered Lukczwics to complete 210 hours of unpaid work.
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