A Bridge of Allan school finance worker locked management out of their accounts programme after quitting over a pay dispute.
Silvius Cornean admitted booting fee-paying Fairview International School in Bridge of Allan out of accounting software which he set up while working there.
After being interviewed by police, Cornean wound up in the dock at Stirling Sheriff Court.
The 47-year-old had upgraded the prestigious school’s system from Microsoft Excel to Xero while working there in 2022.
But over the Christmas holidays, Cornean changed the subscriber details so other employees could not log in.
Cornean admitted his behaviour was “malicious” but denies the school’s claims remedying the situation cost £40,000.
Hero to Xero
Fiscal depute Bernadette Cuthbertson said Cornean was recruited to work at Fairview International School as an administrative support worker in June 2022 and was later promoted to finance assistant.
He introduced the online accounting platform Xero, to which the school subscribed and which staff and Cornean could use.
Ms Cuthbertson said: “In November 2022, Mr Cornean handed in his resignation.
“Apparently there was an ongoing dispute regarding wages and the payment of money he thought he was due for attending courses.
“In December, while working his notice period, Mr Cornean returned to work one morning and displayed strange behaviour.
“On December 29, account information was changed over as the account of Mr Cornean, rather than that of the school.
“It is reported that Mr Cornean used his login credentials… in order to invite himself to take over the subscriber rights, thus making him the sole user of the account.
“By sending and accepting this permission, Mr Cornean has removed all school user accounts.”
Lockout detected
Ms Cuthbertson said around January 9 the school returned after the Christmas break and the change was noticed.
Cornean was emailed and asked to give the school access to the account but he did not answer.
“Mr Cornea did not take any phone calls from the school.
“The school escalated matters to the criminal courts and contacted police.
“There’s been extensive communication with Xero, who are based in New Zealand.
“The data contained within the account belongs to the school and this data includes pupil information, personal financial information and other sensitive data.
“The Xero account is accessible from any computer with login credentials.”
Only after a police interview did Cornean agree to return the rights and Ms Cuthbertson said some data had been deleted or amended.
She said Fairview School claim the lockout has cost them £40,000 to rectify.
Cornean, of Leven Court, Alloa, previously admitted that between December 23 in 2022 and June 14 last year, he maliciously damaged or deleted data and access on accounting software Xero.
£40k cost refuted
Cornean’s solicitor Ken Dalling explained his client was a married father-of-two who earned £26,000 a year while working as an administrative assistant at the Kenilworth Road school.
He explained between 25 and 30 pupils attended the school while Cornean worked there.
He said his client had access to Xero and transferred data stored on a Microsoft Excel file into the system and the only information deleted was the access code.
“He felt he had improved the system and made it easier.
“His thinking was why should they benefit from the extra work he put in.
“The position was he was in dispute with the school ACAS were involved.
“That dispute is now resolved with a payment to Mr Cornean.”
He said the £40,000 claim “is foreign to him – the numbers involved… it doesn’t add up.
“His position is this was a parallel platform.”
Sheriff Derek Hamilton continued to matter until February 28 for discussions between lawyers to clarify the matter.
Distinguished school
Malaysian-headquartered Fairview School began operating in Bridge of Allan in 2019.
The company took on the 100-year-old Beaconhurst School premises after it shut suddenly the previous year.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) world school educates pupils aged from five to 18.
Fairview also operate schools across Malaysia, including in capital Kuala Lumpur.
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