A woman accused of defrauding a roofing business of $700,000 said that she was paying herself the money she was owed.

Bambi Lee Pimental, 54, said yesterday that her salary while working at JW Gray and Co was half of what her going rate as a freelance accountant actually was.

She told the Supreme Court that she kept her payment off the business’s official records because she was told that no one was meant to know she was paid $40 an hour.

Ms Pimental added that while she gave herself loans over the course of her four-year employment, she always had permission to do so.

She also said: “Even when I owed them money, they owed me more.”

Ms Pimental has pleaded not guilty to three counts of theft, fraudulent false accounting and using criminal property while subcontracted by the firm between June 29, 2016 and June 2020.

The court heard last Friday, when Ms Pimental started her defence, that she was hired as an accountant in January 2016 to assist her neighbours, Jonathan and Susan Gray, with Mr Gray’s business.

She said that her standard rate was $80 an hour, but she did first-time jobs at half price to give new clients a chance to see her work.

Ms Pimental said she was hired on a rate of $40 an hour, to work five hours a day.

However, she said that as time went on, her responsibilities increased and she started working more hours.

Ms Pimental explained that she took on more and more work as Ms Gray, whom Ms Pimental was initially to help, pulled away over time.

She said that she also offered to take on some responsibilities, such as handling immigration details for work permits, which would typically come under the remit of someone who did human resources.

Ms Pimental said that she was told not to do it because Mr Gray had someone in charge of work permits, but that she had to do work permit paperwork anyway and often had to correct mistakes from the person assigned.

She added that she was told not to disclose to anyone the amount of money she was being paid.

Ms Pimental said that she frequently told Mr Gray how much money her tasks would normally cost, but saw no change in her rate of pay.

She said that her boss eventually owed her about $50,000, not only for her services but from work outside of normal hours.

Ms Pimental added that she gave herself loans on three occasions.

She said that she could not remember what her final loan was for, but said that the other two were to make necessary repairs to her house.

Ms Pimental insisted that she mentioned needing money to Mr Gray on each occasion and that he said to come to him if she needed help.

She added that she took him up on his offers and transferred “however much I thought I needed”.

Mr Gray, who took the stand last week, said that he did not approve any loans for Ms Pimental to give herself.

When asked why he denied this, she said she did not know.

Ms Pimental said that she always attempted to pay these loans back.

She added that while she was not always successful, “he always owed me more than I owed him”.

Ms Pimental was asked by Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe why she did not list the loans as wages deserved, since she said she was owed the money.

She said “I don’t know” and admitted that she should have.

Ms Pimental was also asked why her payments increased over time from $1,000 to $1,350.

She said that she adjusted her rate based on her work and the amount of money she was being paid outside of J W Gray and Company.

Ms Pimental added that she eventually started giving herself a fixed rate because “it was just easier”, but added that she gave herself more transfers to “catch up” and “make sure I had what I needed”.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. This is to prevent any statements being published that may jeopardise the outcome of that case.