Banking exec jailed for stealing £2.9m by creating fake HMRC payments

Simon Olver, head of finance, accounting, reporting and tax at Credit Industriel et Commercial Bank, has been jailed for four and a half years, after he was found to have abused his position following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad, instigated by a referral from his employer.

Olver pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud by abuse of position and one offence of creating articles for use in fraud.

The investigation found that Olver created two fake payments worth £2.9 million, from his employer to HMRC, and then diverted the funds to himself, some of which he later used on watches, jewellery, upgrading airline flights, and deposits on an Aston Martin and Maclaren sports car.

“Olver betrayed the trust of his employer and used his position to steal nearly £3 million pounds,” said detective constable Richard Cole, who led the investigation for the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad.

“Despite claiming in his interview that he needed the money for debt payments, it’s evident that he also used it to enjoy a luxury lifestyle, purchasing expensive items such as watches and jewellery.”

According to the City of London Police, the banking executive submitted the first of two fraudulent payment requests in just under a year in the role.

The payment request was supposedly a payment of £479,044 to HMRC to settle an outstanding corporation tax bill for 2017. However, Olver substituted his own bank account details in place of HMRC’s details, and named his account ‘HMRC Cumbernauld’ to make the transaction appear more genuine.

Once the payment had been authorised, Olver then sent the payment request to the settlements team to process it and release the funds.

Two weeks later, Olver submitted another payment request in the same way as the first, worth £2,477,122. Again, it was supposedly being paid to HMRC to settle an outstanding corporation tax bill.

The City of London Police explained that, following these payments, Olver’s bank informed his employer of two very large and suspicious payments into his account. At this point, the Fraud Squad was notified, and on the same day officers attended the branch where he worked and arrested him.

In his interview, whil admitting to his actions, Olver stated that he’d been under immense stress and was struggling with debts. He claimed his criminal activity was a way of rectifying his situation.

The Fraud Squad also discovered that Olver had copied his manager’s signature, from the previous two fraudulent payment requests, with the intention of submitting a third worth £1,550,000.

“He must now pay the price for his actions, both with the sentence handed down by the court, but also with the loss of his job and reputation,” Mr Cole added.

Prior to Olver’s criminality being uncovered, he’d already spent approximately £238,000 of the stolen funds – mostly on high value luxury goods.

Commenting on the case, Sarah Place of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said, “In addition to the sentence of four and a half years imprisonment imposed on him, the CPS will now take steps to recover the monies fraudulently taken through Mr Olver’s dishonest actions.”