An accountant who formerly worked for the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) has been found guilty of stealing more than £24,000 from the association, and could face jail
An Old Bailey trial heard that Gurmukh Shehri, who spent ten years with BIBA, had signed cheques to himself and paid himself unauthorised bonuses while employed as a finance manager.
The court was told Shehri created a fictitious company with the initials URM, using three letters from his own name, so he could alter cheques. He paid himself £11,000 in unapproved bonuses and wrote £13,198 in cheques to the fake company.
Shehri pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and is due to be sentenced next month.
The judge in the case said: ‘You know these are serious matters. There’s a substantial amount of money involved and you were in breach of a position of trust. You may be facing a jail sentence.’
In a statement, BIBA said: ‘We brought this matter to the attention of the police immediately upon discovery and have taken all reasonable steps to prevent a recurrence.’
