An accountant who stole more than £24,000 from his bosses by signing cheques to himself and paying himself unauthorised bonuses is facing jail.
Gurmukh Singh Shehri, 32, raided the accounts of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association while employed as the finance manager at its head-quarters in the City.
He paid himself £11,000 in unapproved bonuses and wrote £13,198 in cheques to a fictitious company which he cashed himself, the Old Bailey heard.
Shehri called the bogus company URM, using three letters from his own first name so he could alter the cheques.
He pleaded guilty yesterday to six counts of fraud and faces a possible prison term when he is sentenced next month.
Judge Peter Rook told him: “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 custodial sentence.”
Shehri, who was freed on bail until the sentencing hearing, started his frauds in November 2013, crediting £3,600 to URM in the accounts but cashing the cheque under his own name.
He repeated the trick with £4,788 in January last year and again with £4,860 six months later.
Shehri, of Bexley, also paid himself three bonuses last year, as part of what prosecutor Jonathan Polnay called “an abuse of power over a sustained period”.
He had spent 10 years working his way up at BIBA, the trade association for insurance brokers. His financial career now lies in tatters.
