Bucks business defrauded out of £80,000

A man has been convicted after defrauding Prestige Promotions Ltd, based in Ivinghoe Aston.

Sohan Basu, aged 52, of Britannia Road North in Portsmouth, was found unanimously guilty of two counts of fraud by abuse of position, two counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of theft following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court last Friday (29/1).

He has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the same court on Friday 19 March.

The court heard that Basu was employed as an IT accounts manager at a small firm called Prestige Promotions Ltd, based in Ivinghoe Aston, east Buckinghamshire, between 2010 and 2018.

In the summer of 2018, the company director, a man aged in his 60s, noticed a number of outgoings from his company bank account that he did not recognise.

These were labelled as being his own expenses despite having never paid them to himself.

After reporting the activity to police, an investigation was launched by Aylesbury CID which revealed that these funds, totalling over £45,000, had been transferred into two bank accounts in the victim’s name.

Officers discovered that these accounts had been set up by Basu using the victim’s own identity so as to try and divert suspicion.  He then used ATMs to withdraw tens of thousands of pounds from the accounts.

Cheques to the value of tens of thousands of pounds were also found to have been stolen from company property and deposited into accounts in names the victim did not recognise – all of which were fake identities set up by Basu.

Funds from a charity that the company set up to support children in Africa to receive an education were also stolen.

Despite being arrested in connection with these offences in March 2019, Basu continued to offend against the same victim.

In 2020, the victim began receiving parking fines and notices of prosecution for traffic offences involving a vehicle he knew nothing about.

Further investigation revealed Basu had registered a vehicle with the DVLA in the name of the victim, and had also set up a direct debit using his bank details to pay the insurance policy.

In total, Basu was convicted of fraud amounting to over £81,000. A substantial amount of the stolen funds had been spent on gambling.

Giving evidence in court, the company director said he had always trusted Basu “implicitly” and had felt completely “under siege” at his hands when the crimes were discovered.

Investigating officer Detective Constable James Lacey, of Aylesbury CID, said: “This was a protracted, complex and sophisticated fraud, carried out over many years against not only a small business but additionally a charity, by an employee who was in a position of trust and motivated by a serious gambling addiction.

“Sohan Basu went to extreme lengths to ensure his stealing went undetected, even to the point of setting up bank accounts in fake names, with the sole purpose of syphoning large sums of money from his employer. He also made use of false identities, driving licences, and mailboxes in names other than his own, in his unsuccessful attempts to avoid prosecution.

“The fact he continued his fraud even after his first arrest demonstrates that he held both his employer and the justice system in complete contempt, so I am pleased he has now been convicted of these offences and subsequently remanded in custody, where he is unable to cause further damage.

“I hope this finally offers the victim some reassurance, and sends out a message that both financial and cyber-crime will not be tolerated.”