In an era in which some senior and near-senior citizens still feel uncomfortable using an ATM or telephone banking system, a trio of 60-plus members of the Winnipeg-based Cambrian Credit Union have been charged with orchestrating an elaborate $2-million bank fraud.

Winnipeg Police concluded a year-long investigation in December by arresting a 63-year-old woman, her 64-year-old husband and their 76-year-old business partner.

The three allegedly manipulated Cambrian’s computers in order to make fictitious deposits totalling $2.1 million, using several companies and dormant bank accounts, between June 2005 and November 2006. The three have been charged with a number of offenses, including fraud over $5,000, possessing goods obtained by crime over $5,000 and money laundering. They were released on a promise to appear in court later this month.

The lawyers for Margaret Sirkis and her husband Kenneth, as well as the lawyer for the other accused, John Maxey, did not return phone calls. The Sirkis’s two children and Maxey’s wife and son are named in a civil case, but have not been charged with any criminal activity.

Court documents allege that the Sirkises owned a pair of consulting companies and worked alongside Maxey and his quartet of firms to complete the transactions. When Cambrian approached Kenneth Sirkis about the questionable transactions, he admitted his fraudulent conduct. He subsequently paid back part of the funds in question and fingered Maxey as a “willing and knowing participant” in the scheme.

Kim Wentz, vice president of marketing and communications at Cambrian, says the credit union has reserve funds in place to manage such risks and there was no financial impact on its more than 50,000 members. She says that because the matter is before the courts, she can’t comment on the specifics of the case.

“The matter has been dealt with and it will not happen again,” she says, adding she isn’t at liberty to divulge the improvements Cambrian has made to its technology. “When we became aware of the fraud, we immediately contacted the Winnipeg Police. Arrests were made in December and we want to stress that no member accounts or information were breached in any way.”

Of the original $2.1 million that was stolen, almost half of it has been recovered and civil litigation is underway to recover the balance, Wentz says.

Cambrian is the third-biggest credit union in Manitoba with more than $1.5 billion in assets. IE