A recruitment company worker who stole millions from his bosses to spend on a divorce and a new Thai bride has been jailed – along with a colleague who blackmailed him.
Payroll administrator Dennis Harold stole nearly £3million from his employers Devonshire Appointments Ltd, by inventing staff and paying the cash into fake accounts.
Harold, of Dagenham, Essex, had worked for the company for eight years before he began his six-year-long scam in 2007.
In 2008, colleague Shamsur Rahman, of Enfield, north London, uncovered the fraud.
But instead of reporting 60-year-old Harold to company bosses or police, Rahman, 38, began blackmailing him and made off with more than £1.1million.
Investigators from the City of London Police’s fraud squad found that Rahman splashed the cash on a £600,000 home, a luxury £54,000 car and jewellery.
The fraud was discovered after auditors found a small accounting discrepancy which Harold tried to cover up.
However, when he realised his cover-up had failed, Harold came clean to his bosses.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe, who led the investigation for the City of London Police, said: “Dennis Harold gave years of service to Devonshire before deciding to go down a path that led him to committing a multi-million pound fraud and theft, manipulating the payroll and creating false temporary staff so he could filter off company cash into his own accounts.
“After discovering what had been going on Shamsur Rahman should have blown Harold’s cover but instead decided to blackmail his colleague into handing out a cut of the proceeds of crime.
“Ultimately they are as bad as each other, which is reflected in the fact they have both been sentenced to four years behind bars.”
Harold admitted to fraud by abuse of position and Rahman pleaded guilty to acquiring criminal property.
Appearing at the Old Bailey last week, the pair were both jailed for four years.
