Employee deceives company by fraudulently placing his unemployed wife on the payroll, defrauds company of crores!

A shocking case of financial fraud has come to light at ManpowerGroup Service Private Limited, a Delhi-based recruitment company. One of its long-term employees, Radhaballav Nath, allegedly orchestrated a cunning scheme to deceive the company by placing his unemployed wife on the payroll fraudulently. This deceit continued for over ten years, resulting in substantial losses amounting to crores for the firm.

In December of the previous year, the company grew suspicious of manipulated records and initiated an internal investigation to delve into the matter. The inquiry confirmed the fraudulent activity, prompting the company to take swift action. Last week, they lodged a First Information Report (FIR) with the Delhi Police, initiating a further inquiry into the situation.

Nath had been employed at ManpowerGroup since 2008, serving as Assistant Manager (Finance) before being promoted to Manager (Finance). In this capacity, he held a critical position that connected the company’s external payroll vendor with various departments like HR and finance. Exploiting his access to limited monthly payroll and reimbursement data, restricted to only three officers, Nath took advantage of the situation.

Each month, the payroll vendor prepared the pay register based on the data provided by Nath. This register would then pass through the Director (HR) and the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) for approval before being returned to Nath for the final step of salary release to the bank.

It was during this final stage that Nath allegedly manipulated the data by clandestinely adding his wife’s name, Sasmita Raul, to the payroll and assigning her a salary amount. He also inflated his own salary figures. Once the manipulated payroll file was uploaded to the bank portal by Nath, all employees’ salaries, including his wife’s, were transferred accordingly.

During the internal investigation, the company discovered that Nath had been uploading the manipulated payroll file using another employee’s computer system. After completing the process, he would delete the file from the system to cover his tracks.

Nath’s suspension on December 11, 2022, was followed by him being summoned before an internal committee to provide an explanation for the discrepancies. Upon being confronted with the evidence, he confessed to illegally transferring ?3.6 crore ($500,000) to his wife’s bank account starting in 2012. Additionally, he admitted to inflating his own salary and transferring ?60 lakh (over 73,000 dollars) to his account over the years, leading to a total loss of ?4.2 crore for the company.

In his confession, Nath disclosed that he had utilized the embezzled funds to acquire properties in Delhi, Jaipur, and his hometown in Odisha. He also invested in mutual funds and other financial schemes. The internal investigation by ManpowerGroup verified that they had never employed Radhaballav Nath’s wife in any capacity.