I embezzled £½m and spent the lot, admits admin assistant

A COLLEGE admin assistant who embezzled £500,000 yesterday told a court she had spent all the money.

Afsha Rana, 34, bought more than 300 electronic devices using City of Glasgow College bank accounts, then sold them on for personal profit.

She doctored spreadsheets and changed information while carrying out the crime between March 2015 and April 2019.

Her lawyer claimed she had given the cash to friends including a ‘man from London’ that she didn’t want her family to know about.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard Rana, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement, worked as an operations admin assistant in the IT department. She has been dismissed.

Prosecutor Alasdair Knox said: ‘Rana acted in a deliberate manner to defraud her employer. In a position of trust, she ordered and took possession of 334 computing devices which cannot be accounted for in the college. The total value of equipment which is unaccounted for is £500,000 and the college have paid their suppliers for these items.’

Rana sold 176 devices to Cash Converters, in Glasgow, and additional devices to other retailers. She told staff at Cash Convertors that the equipment came from her brother, who had refurbished it.

The offences came to light following an IT report which highlighted unusual purchases.

Mr Knox added: ‘There is CCTV footage of Rana leaving on workdays with a large suitcase, which would be unusual for a normal day at work.’

John Kilcoyne, defending, told the court: ‘She squandered all the money and gave it to friends. It’s all away.’

Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports by Sheriff Tony Kelly, who remanded Rana in custody.