Jailed company accountant hit with £77,000 proceeds of crime order

John Brown, 61, of Cumbernauld, was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment in March 2023 for defrauding £275,000 from Farmfoods Ltd over a three-year period between 2015 and 2018.

A confiscation order for £77,000 was imposed on Brown at Airdrie Sheriff Court and the court ordered that this sum be paid to Farmfoods Ltd as compensation.

The order also states that he benefited from his crimes by £275,000.

He was convicted after he admitted forging signatures on company cheques worth thousands of pounds which he made payable to himself.

Sineidin Corrins, depute procurator fiscal for specialist casework, said: “Even after a conviction is secured, the Crown will continue to use proceeds of crime legislation to ensure that funds obtained through this type of crime are confiscated from perpetrators.

“Fraud is not a victimless crime. This was a brazen example of targeting a business and his employers, which affects employees, the business community and has a wider economic impact on Scotland as a whole.”