The Royal Gibraltar Police have welcomed the sentence of seven and a half years’ imprisonment that was handed down to Gillian Balban today.

In March, the 52-year-old was found guilty of two counts of False Accounting, three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position and one count of Fraud by False Representation.

RGP officers had started the investigation in 2018 – over 5 years before the Supreme Court trial.  Additional officers were needed in the Economic Crime Unit in order to scrutinise hundreds of thousands of emails and to interview over 50 witnesses. It became clear that her criminality had lasted for several years before she was arrested and, in total, the NatWest Bank had lost over £2.7 million as a result of her actions.

An RGP spokesman said,

‘Many people, not least the RGP officers on the case, have welcomed the sentence handed down by the Supreme Court. We are grateful to the many witnesses who came forward to give their evidence and to the officers who worked so tirelessly on this case.

‘We should also acknowledge the contribution of the Spanish authorities including the Spanish National Police who, in the execution of a European Investigation Order conducted a search in the defendant's Spanish home in the presence of RGP officers and provided us with some critical evidence.’