£220k scam book-keeper took friends to Portugal
A BOOK-KEEPER embezzled £220,000 from a client and used some of the cash to take his friends on holiday, telling them he had won the lottery.
Philip Kennedy roped in three friends to help empty the account of the firm which ran the Cafe Borgia bar in Paisley, Renfrewshire, getting them to cash cheques he had marked in their names.
Kennedy – who boasted he was ‘good with figures’ – tried to cover his tracks by claiming he was doing this to ‘help out’ the pub.
Yesterday a jury heard he then treated two of the friends to an allexpenses paid trip to Portugal, saying he had won £50,000 on the lottery.
The 48-year-old is now behind bars after his three accomplices, who all previously admitted their parts in the crime, exposed his scam at a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Kennedy was convicted of fraud – described by Sheriff Martin Jones,
‘Said he had won the lottery’
QC, as ‘extremely serious’ – and looked on the verge of tears as he was remanded in custody before sentencing later this month.
The book- keeper, f rom Paisley, worked at Robb Ferguson in Glasgow.
A client, PJ Enterprises, ran Cafe Borgia, and Kennedy had access to its cheque book to pay invoices. Between 2007 and 2010, he took advantage of that to swindle the pub firm.
Former bouncer David Ross, a friend of Kennedy, said Kennedy had asked him to cash cheques in his account to ‘help out’ a pub he was doing financial work for. Ross, 51, said: ‘ Once the cheque had cleared, I was instructed to give Mr Kennedy the money.’
He recalled most of the cash handovers taking place in pubs and that he would get up to £40 each time for helping out.
Asked what Kennedy told him at the time, the witness added: ‘I was not to say anything as the proprietor of the pub was [said to be] in financial dire straits.’
Ross recalled an evening in 2009 when Kennedy bought everyone a drink at the bar.
Kennedy then asked Ross and another friend – John Lafferty – if they wanted to go to Albufeira in the Algarve with him and his lover.
Ross told the jury: ‘Mr Kennedy gave me money to go to the travel agents to book the holiday. He said he had won £50,000 on the lottery.’
Kenneth Smith, 51, the third friend, insisted he was not then aware he was taking part in anything unlawful.
Smith said: ‘He said it was work bonuses. He had a girlfriend… I was to put (cheques) through my account so she would never notice them.’
Kennedy admitted handing the men cheques, but said it was at the request of one of the pub owners. He said he paid for the holiday on the premise he was repaid.
Ross, Smith and Lafferty, all of Paisley, admitted a charge of ‘acquiring criminal property’.
They will be sentenced later this month.