Jury deliberating in fraud, theft trial for 3 former SaskTel managers

REGINA — The jury has begun deliberating in the trial of three former SaskTel managers accused of fraud and theft.

Joan Yasinowski, Barry Richardson and Dan Crites are accused of bilking SaskTel out of more than 0,000.

The Crown alleges the three set up a company called “Green Really Works” which overcharged SaskTel for assembling set-top boxes for digital TV.

The Crown says the former managers’ children were being paid 0 an hour to assemble the boxes.

It’s also alleged that the accused bought golf clubs, bicycles and signed apparel on SaskTel’s dime, and claimed the merchandise was for promotional use.

The defence lawyer says no crime was committed, that everything was done in good faith, and while they may have spent more than expected, it was all done in the interest of getting the job done quickly.

The eight women and four men on the jury began deliberating Monday afternoon.

Yasinowski, Richardson and Crites each face two counts of fraud over ,000 and one count of theft over ,000.

The charges stem from an RCMP investigation that was launched in November 2009 after SaskTel forwarded the results of an internal probe to police.