Crooked council worker told he is going to prison

Mark Conway netted more than £1 million before he was finally caught

A crooked council employee has been found guilty of siphoning off more than £1 million from Dundee City Council in a fraud that went undetected for nearly seven years.

Mark Conway first diverted public money to his own accounts after running up debts on online gambling websites.

He went on to defraud his employer, Dundee City Council, of a total of £1,065,085.32 during his crime spree before being suspended.

The Courier first revealed the extent of the crime in November.

Appearing in the High Court in Edinburgh, the 52-year-old from Brechin was told he will be jailed.

Judge Graeme Buchanan QC remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing later this month after he admitted obtaining the money by fraud from the council between August 6 in 2009 and May 25 last year.

Conway, formerly of Latch Road in Brechin, made entries in the local authority’s computer system pretending to represent sums due to genuine suppliers to the council but had the money paid into his bank and building society accounts.

Depute advocate Rosemary Guinnane said: “He was an IT officer specialising in financial IT systems and was regarded as the council’s primary specialist in these systems.

“He was given wide access to the computer systems.”

The prosecutor said Conway had “unrestricted access” to financial computer systems used for recoding invoices from suppliers and processing payments.

She said: “During 2009 the accused had become indebted due to his use of online gambling websites. In an effort to obtain further funds to pay off a credit card bill, on or about August 6 the accused created an entry to reflect a legitimate sum … which was due to be paid by the council.”

He continued to do so without detection until May 2016.

She said: “The total value of funds fraudulently obtained was £1,065,085.32 of which £7,337.58 has been returned to the council, leaving an outstanding total of £1,058,512.74.

Defence counsel Gavin Anderson said a background report would be required on Conway ahead of sentencing but made no motion to continue his bail.

He said Conway had previously made “full admissions of guilt”.

The Crown has raised proceedings to seize any available crime profits made by Conway.

Picture: Kris Miller. Dundee House, headquarters of Dundee City Council, where Mark Conway worked.

Mark Conway defrauded more than £1m from his former employers, Dundee City Council.