The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a water bill collector of malversation raps arising from alleged misappropriation of P480,627 of her collections from 2010 to 2011.

In a 44-page decision, the anti-graft court's Fifth Division reversed the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Villasis, Pangasinan, which earlier found Reinaflor Sales guilty of malversation for the failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sales, an office bill collector of the concessionaries of the Villasis Water District, was accused of misappropriating and converting P480,627 for her personal use.

She was sentenced in September 2022 to up to eight years behind bars by the RTC and was ordered to pay the P480,627, or the amount allegedly squandered, with legal interest of 6 percent per annum.

The malversation case against Sales stemmed from a regional audit of the VWD, which revealed P909,455 in unremitted collections. The Commission on Audit found several lapses in the pay collections of the VWD, such as shortage, delayed remittance, and daily non-remittance, among others.

It was found, however, that of the total, P428,000 was already remitted, while the P480,000 remained unremitted.

In her motion, Sales claimed that the prosecution failed to prove elements of the crime, especially that she had custody or control of the funds missing by reason of the duties of her office.

In clearing Sales, the Sandiganbayan said the audit was "inaccurate" since the head of the audit team recommended conducting a re-audit since the first one was "not complete" and conducted with sufficient thoroughness."

"In its entirety, the statutory presumption of malversation cannot arise from such unusual circumstances more characterized as irregular, incomplete, and inaccurate audit," the court ruled.