CAB manager handed blank cheques

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An ex-treasurer of a Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) signed blank cheques and handed them to the then manager for her to fill in, a jury has heard.

He said he trusted Sally Foster, 49, and signed the cheques so she could "get on with the job."

David Llewellyn Williams told Swansea Crown Court he had tried to resign the post but she "begged" him to carry on.

Mrs Foster and her husband Dale, 65, from Swansea Marina, deny siphoning up to £650,000 from the Ammanford CAB.

It is claimed they spent the money on high living including champagne, fine wine, holidays, jewellery, fine art, hotels and furniture.

They are on trial accused of diverting £930,000 from the bureau into their own bank accounts.

The prosecution allege that about £650,000 of the money was obtained fraudulently.

Mr Williams, the former head of Ammanford Junior School, told the jury he became treasurer of the CAB on his retirement in 1997.

He said he spent only two hours a month at the offices and "relied heavily" on Mrs Foster, who prepared all the accounting documentation.

The only excuse is that we were a small body working for the good of the community and there was trust involved David Llewellyn Williams, former treasurer

In 2002 he felt too ill to continue and wanted to resign, but stayed on at Mrs Foster's request until October 2005.

The Fosters, who ran the CAB together, resigned a few months later.

He said as far as he knew the CAB had only two accounts, both with Barclays in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.

But he accepted that it now appeared he had signed 85 cheques drawn on CAB accounts at the local NatWest branch, although he could not remember ever seeing a NatWest cheque let alone signing any.

He said he signed blank cheques "so the manager could get on with the job".

He added: "There was a question of trust. The only excuse is that we were a small body working for the good of the community and there was trust involved.

Plasma television

"I have had second thoughts, that it was not the right thing to do.

"I relied almost entirely on the manager. "

The prosecution claims that as part of the fraud the Fosters paid themselves £76,000 in expenses between 2001 and 2006.

Mr Williams told the court he was shocked by the amount. "I was not aware that expenses like that were being paid," he added.

Mr Williams said he had no memory of anyone authorising payments to Dale Foster for information technology services, or of the CAB agreeing to buy a £4,200 42-inch plasma television later found at the Fosters' home.

Mr Williams agreed his memory was now hazy and it appeared he had, in 1997, signed a mandate at the local NatWest branch adding his name as a signatory to cheques. But he could not remember doing so.

The Fosters deny 11 charges of theft and five of false accounting.

The jury has previously heard their alleged outgoings included a £17,000 ski trip to Whistler in Canada, a stay at the Ritz in London, and shopping trips to Harrods and Harvey Nichols.

The trial continues.