Arrested for employee theft of £340k over 7 years

[Si1977]

I was arrested yesterday and accused of stealing 340,000 pounds over 7 years. I work as a catering manager that counts money from a cash loader and passes it to another department who were supposed to reconcile it against a reading and then bank it, on a weekly basis. They never reconciled it and are now saying all this money is missing. As the manager and having responsibility they have accused me. There is no CCTV, no witness to suggest I have taken anything(I haven't but that seems irrelevant). However I gamble frequently, a lot on horse racing and put my winnings in my bank and they are asking me questions about this money obviously suggesting it is stolen money and not winnings, I cannot "prove" it is winnings as a lot of it is from actual race tracks where u get no receipts but a lot of people know I game and have been successful, I have tried to stop this year as my finances are a mess though. They have bailed me until November whilst they investigate further and look at my bank accounts. Any ideas on what my chances are and what the worst case scenario is? Surely with no actual
Proof I took money the onus is on them to prove the money I put in the bank is stolen?

[factor-fiction]

Hi- I remember you previous thread.
http://www.theanswerb.../Question1136359.html
Clearly the amounts involved have shot up from £100000 previously.
I'll read through the posts and see what I can suggest once I've reminded myself of all the details.
Do you have a solicitor though who is defending you who can advise?

[mike11111]

"...and that, M'Lud, is the case for the defence"

[EDDIE51]

You need a solcitor to sort this one out. Yes they have to prove it.

[Baldric]

Do you still gamble, have you paid your debts yet, have you forgotton you were accused of stealing £100k back in May this year, was that part of the £340k or in addition to it, we need to know if we,re going to help.

[factor-fiction]

I'm surprised the bank never investigated the large sums of cash you must have been paying in.

Your company's auditors need replacing

[mike11111]

This equates to nearly £50k per annum. I know that the catering industry is a licence to print money, but ...

[Si1977]

No I haven't forgotten, it's the same money just the amount has changed and now I've been arrested. Yes I had a solicitor with me yesterday when questioned. I still gamble a little but am working hard to stop and no I still have debts.

[EDDIE51]

Just read your previous thread, I have to say ''stop wasting time on here and get a lawyer on your case !''
Just a thought , you say you hand the cash over to another department, surely there are records kept that you handed over cash , even if they don't recount it ? I do not see how they can say you have stolen all of it . There MUST be bank records of how much was banked even if the company did not keep it's own records.
Sorry but something just does not ring true , I can not imagine a comany so lax in its record keeping that there are no proper accounts kept of such a large sum of cash.
I am not saying you stole it but at the least you have been very careless , if I was in your position I would have stood there and made them count the cash in front of me and sign for it.

[Si1977]

The process was as a contractor we empty the machines, count the money and hand it over,all signed for, they were supposed to reconcile this against readings from the machine but they didn't, I had no access to these readings so would have no idea if the money was right or wrong

[mike11111]

My mother used to sing that to me every time I told porkies.

[Si1977]

Thanks that helps a lot

[factor-fiction]

So if the money handed over was always recorded and signed for then I assume they can compare that with the money that was taken from your cash loader machine. So if there is a shortfall of £340000 they are looking at you

[EDDIE51]

So these machines are like the self sevice tills at a supermarket?
It just has to be possible to get the readings from the machines and tally it against what was banked ? If they don't have readings ( which I find impossible to belive) or the readings have been deleated there is nothing they can prove. We are not talking about an 'Honesty box' type machine here are we ? where the people buying the food are just trusted to drop cash in a cash box ?
I still can't see how such huge sums of cash can go unaccounted for , for so many years.

[Si1977]

Exactly that

[ummmm]

Most businesses do quarterly accounts at the very least. I can't see how it's possible that the books didn't balance each quarter for 7 years.

[Si1977]

Basically the restaurant is "cashless", people put a card in a machine and load money on it, we then count that money weekly, yes they have the readings but never reconciled the cash against them for
7 years,
Something I was not aware of, now they have checked and say there is a shortfall and are
Blaming me,

[Si1977]

That told me on a number of
Occasions they were 10k out
Over the
Course
Of
A
Year and just wrote it
Off

[ummmm]

They wouldn't write off 10k. No accountant would write off 10k.

[Baldric]

Cashless///Missing Cash, ?????