Charity chief stole £700k, court hears
EXEC DENIES FRAUD CLAIMS
Court Reporter A CHIEF executive at Age Concern allegedly diverted more than £700,000 from the charity to himself during a fraud spanning eight years, a court heard.
John Briers is accused of pocketing huge amounts of the organisation’s money in an abuse of his trusted position.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he is accused of paying 60 of the charity’s cheques into his own account, awarding himself 12 unauthorised bonuses and 19 additional pension top-ups.
The 57-year-old, of Woodstock Road, Gateshead, who was chief executive officer at Age Concern South Tyneside at the time, denies three allegations of fraud between 2007 and 2015.
Jurors heard Briers was suspended from his post when a financial manager noticed a supporting document for one of the payments appeared to be fraudulent, and an investigation was launched.
Templates of blank invoices for firms the organisation had dealt with were allegedly found when Briers’ office was searched, the court heard.
Prosecutor Anthony Dunne told the court: “The defendant is charged with three offences of fraud by abuse of position.
“The case against him is he dishonestly used that position to fraudulently pay to himself large amounts of Age Concern’s money.
“He made most of those payments simply by writing out cheques to himself.
“He then covered his tracks by pretending that those fraudulent payments were either payments to companies who had supplied goods and services to Age Concern or bonus payments that were approved by the charity’s board of trustees, or special payments, also agreed by the board or a sub-committee of the board.
“The defendant created false documents to explain those fraudulent payments.
“In the end, he was caught out because one of the documents he created contained obvious mistakes and the finance manager with the charity noticed.
“In total, he stole over £700,000 from the charity through these means.”
The court heard the money was taken from the two limbs of the organisation, one being the charity, which he was chief executive of, and the other was the trading company, which he was secretary of.
Prosecutors claim Briers pocketed £433,236 through fraudulent cheques he claimed were for suppliers; paid himself £105,560 in bonuses, including a special, additional monthly salary of £5,756 on one occasion; and used £169,703 of the charity’s cash to top-up his pension.
Mr Dunne said Briers used fake invoices and even fraudulent minutes of board meetings in a bid to cover his tracks.
Briers denies charges.
The trial continues. all