A King Township woman has been sentenced to six years in prison in $5.5 million fraud investigation.
Natalia Pouchkina, 55, was sentenced Monday after she pleaded guilty to fraud over $5000 in January.
York Regional Police say the woman was working as a senior manager at Crane Payment Solutions between March 2014 and May this year, when she set up fake account payables similar in name to real account payables for the company.
Police said that over a 14-month period, the woman submitted fraudulent bills to her employer totalling $5.5 million, which were paid.
In late May, after being confronted by management regarding accounting discrepancies, police say the woman fled from Canada to Europe.
Police say the woman was arrested near Malaga in Spain, where it's believed she had been living, with the help of Interpol, the RCMP and Spanish police and was brought back to Canada in October.
Pouchkina was also ordered to pay $5,476,000 in restitution or face an additional five years behind bars.
-With files from The Canadian Press
