A New World Rototuna checkout manager who oversaw eight supervisors and 55 checkout operators stole almost $50,000 from the supermarket by manipulating refunds and transactions, a New Zealand court has heard.
Amandeep Kaur Singh pleaded guilty to representative charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and obtaining by deception when she appeared in Hamilton District Court on Tuesday, according to the Waikato Times.
She worked at New World Rototuna for more than a decade, joining the supermarket in 2011 in the deli before moving to the checkout department the following year. She was promoted to checkout manager in 2016.
Her responsibilities included overseeing the day-to-day operation of the checkout area, managing cash and transactions and supervising the supermarket’s checkout staff.
But between October 2023 and February 2024, Singh used her position to carry out a series of unauthorised transactions, the court heard.
The offending involved a range of alleged refund and transaction schemes, including fake Gold Card and Club Card refunds, Rug Doctor and SodaStream refunds, cigarette, tobacco and alcohol refunds, fuel voucher and trailer-hire refunds, staff discounts and “mistake” refunds.
She also manipulated “jammed” self-service transactions and took promotional products and groceries, including MasterChef products.
In some cases, the refunds should have required customer signatures as part of the reconciliation process. Instead, the customers did not exist.
The transactions left the supermarket tills short by the value of the refunds. Singh would then allegedly remove cash from the till or issue herself a gift card for the corresponding amount.
The total value of her offending was close to $50,000. Her employment was terminated on March 8, 2024.
She did not provide a statement to police but admitted the offending during an internal disciplinary hearing with New World management and apologised for her actions.
During the hearing, Singh said she initially carried out the thefts about once a week. She told management that she continued after “no-one found out”, and then began doing more.
Singh is due to be sentenced in February 2027.
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