A MAN who stole thousands of pounds from his employer to repay money he swindled from a previous job has been ordered to pay back more than £78,000.
Mayur Gaglani, a 48-year-old married father-of-two from Penarth, was believed to have stolen around £250,000 from the first company, and in 2017 he went on to take a new job with Bristol-based PSE 2, who are a small company selling electrical items.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court in April was told how Gaglani obtained a degree in electrical engineering from Cardiff University and had worked for PSE 2 for several years without complaint, but when the pandemic struck, he shielded to protect his wife who is in poor health, and this impacted on his ability to earn money, which led to financial difficulties.
The court heard that Gaglani and his family were in arrears with their mortgage and owed between £40,000-£50,000 in credit card loans.
Gaglani told PSE 2’s director Matthew Porter that he was in a civil dispute with his former employer, and Mr Porter loaned him £60,000 plus an additional £22,000 in advance of his salary to repay his debts, unaware that he was using the money to pay off his previous theft.
Despite Mr Porter’s generosity, Gaglani defrauded PSE 2 of £69,544.65 using false invoices and the company’s credit card between June and August 2022. Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett told the court: “The invoices were then paid out via the company but in fact the money was not going to pay genuine suppliers – it was going to the defendant’s bank account.”
When Gaglani went on a family holiday to the USA during summer 2022, Mr Porter spotted he was still receiving bills from the company credit card.
An investigation into Gaglani’s financial activities revealed he had spent more than £5,000 on the company credit card during the holiday.
Gaglani was arrested and questioned on 8th November last year, when he made full admissions of his fraud.
At the conclusion of April’s court hearing, Gaglani was sentenced to 20 months in prison, half of which he will spend in custody before he is released on licence.
On Friday 29th September, a further Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing took place at Cardiff Crown Court where Gaglani was said to have £375,000 in available assets, and Judge Rhys Rowlands ordered him to pay the sum of £78,033.
By MARCUS STEAD
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