Bagging the fraudsters

It prompted me to write concerning an internal audit check we carried out at Tesco.com in which we found that a fraud was being perpetrated by one of the company's senior employees.

It emerged that the employee concerned – Simon Pook, who's now serving a jail term of three years', nine months – had been falsely invoicing Tesco to the tune of £700,000 for non-existent IT-related work, as well as taking bribes running into several thousands of pounds from a supplier.

This was a particularly satisfying case for us in that a Tesco manager was quick to spot the problem. We then moved in and, with the help of our solicitors (City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner), achieved civil judgements for all the stolen money and bribes – as well as the criminal conviction against Pook – within a very short space of time. Indeed, the police force involved suggested it was their fastest-ever fraud conviction.

The case serves as a serious warning to anyone who might be contemplating fraud against Tesco, and is a good example by which other retail security professionals might learn a thing or two. Interestingly, the civil case here was also notable because of the Court ruling that Tesco was not liable for its refusal to allow Pook to exercise executive share options before his dismissal from employment.