Chartered accountant stole nearly 560,000 pounds company Which makes HP sauce Has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
42-year-old Asha Patel abused her position at Westmill Foods by paying invoices to her bank account and using the money to support her troubled food business.
The mother of three children was arrested after leaving the company when a supplier complained about not being paid.
After the fraud was discovered, a colleague of Patel was unknowingly used to conceal the scam, and lost his job as a result and faced police investigation. Wood Green Crown Stadium Hear.
Judge John Dodd QC sentenced Patel to two and a half years in prison and told her: “In two years, you stole about 560,000 pounds and systematically deceived your employer.
“You used it to support your own business, a business that later failed. According to my judgment, you did it in a cynical and determined manner.”
The judge added: “The most likely explanation is why you, a woman of noble character and many merits, did what you did for a simple reason: greed.”
Westmill Foods is part of Associated British Foods plc, and its brands include Lea & Perrins sauce, Amoy noodles and lotus biscuits.
Patel, an accounting graduate, joined the company in 2011 and stole £559,822 from 2017 to 2019 when he left due to poor performance.
She pleaded guilty to 16 counts of fraudulent abuse of power and attributed her crimes to the “spiral” of the deepening financial distress of her own independent business.
Westmill has taken civil action to recover nearly 800,000 pounds of stolen funds, interest and expenses from Patel.
Prosecutor Sahir Sinha said that Patel is an account manager responsible for clearing supplier invoices and repeatedly entering his bank account details to withdraw funds.
He said that Patel obtained a settlement to leave the company in May 2019, but when she paid herself the last five fraudulent payments, she chose a full three-month notice period, totaling more than 300,000 pounds.
“This may be a deliberate and deliberate decision to use her notice period to fraudulently obtain more funds,” the prosecutor said.
Mr. Sinha said that Patel made the last fraudulent payment when she asked to help her substitute-a relative-understand the payment system after leaving the company.
Mr. Sinha said: “Other employees also participated in the defendant, but not deliberately, but used to submit documents.” “In one case, a colleague lost his job and was investigated and interviewed by the police. “
The court heard that almost all the stolen funds went to Patel’s own troubled food distribution company Yuwi Ltd.
She said that she felt pressure from his business partner to continue to provide funding for the fledgling company and “unable to control the spiraling situation she found herself in.”
After hearing that she was the primary caregiver of her child and was recently diagnosed with diabetes, the judge eased the sentence of Patel in Southgate, north London.
