Man jailed for stealing over £200,000 to fund gambling habit

A man has been jailed for three years for stealing over £200,000 from his charity employer to fund his online gambling habit, the Metropolitan Police said. 

Manjinder Virdi, 37, of Rathmore Road was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday (14).

According to the Met Police, Virdi joined the Poplar-based charity in May 2015. He was appointed as a financial administrator and later promoted to finance officer.

His role involved various financial and accountancy functions, allowing him access to the company bank and PayPal accounts.

• In May 2019, another staff at the charity received an email from their bank about potentially fraudulent activity in their accounts. When asked to look into it, Virdi claimed that he had spoken to the bank and that it was a scam email that should be ignored.
• A day later, he told the colleague that the bank was going to contact him directly with the details. Later, the charity's vice president contacted the bank and came to know that a number of payments had been made into Virdi's accounts.
• On 22 May he was arrested and taken to an east London police station. Virdi had siphoned over £200,000 into his own personal bank accounts in several transactions over a period of 20 months. Thousands of pounds in deposits had been made to online gambling websites, Police said.

"In one series of transactions from October to November 2018, he took just over £85,000. From February to May 2019 he stole just over £53,000. These staggering sums of money were then frittered away via online gambling websites," said Detective Constable Gavin Markey, of the central east command unit CID.

“Virdi tried to play his colleagues for fools when they were initially contacted by the bank but they knew something was not adding up and their suspicions were confirmed. Their efforts and support during our investigation has been invaluable in ensuring Virdi’s conviction and sentencing.”