FOOD processing giant Heinz has accused a former employee of stealing more than half a million pounds.
The company has sued Karan Chopra, 30, for damages and the return of £648,000 it accuses him of stealing and diverting into bogus customer accounts.
Chopra, who is of Indian origin, is accused in the claim of having misappropriated a total of £648,269.74 through “deceit, unlawful means conspiracy, and breach of contract”.
Heinz is suing him for the return of the money, as well as damages, and claims he intentionally inflicted harm on the company through his unlawful acts.
A graduate in business and finance from the University of Hull, Chopra joined the food manufacturer as a commercial analyst in 2016 and worked for the business for less than a year. His task was to raise sales through deals with wholesalers.
Slough-based Chopra allegedly teamed up with an accomplice who worked for an information technology firm to form a string of fake companies through which they diverted money.
Chopra and Rohit Jain are accused of having devised a system to pay themselves cash that should have been paid to Heinz by exploiting their knowledge of its processing and payments system.
A claim form lodged with the High Court has alleged the duo formed a total of four fictitious companies to claim rebates for which they were not eligible.
Chopra joined Heinz, the UK arm of parent company Kraft Heinz, in 2016. Soon after, he allegedly fabricated an email trail, and as a result of his deception, got multiple payments.
It is also alleged that Chopra set up customer accounts in the names of Bidfood Direct by altering documents so that funds would be sent to an email account he could access.
