Recruiters cleared of invoice discounting fraud

14/05/2009

Two former recruitment professionals were found not guilty of conspiring to defraud the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) by abusing an invoice discounting facility.

Stephen Lawrence from the Chelmsford area of Essex and Mark Starling from Brentwood in Essex were found not guilty of the charge after a seven-week trial at Southwark Crown Court on 7 May.

Lawrence and Starling were accused of defrauding the bank between 2005 and 2007 while they were directors of Chelmsford-based IT recruiter Quo Vadis Technology. They were accused of entering false details into an online software programme as part of an invoice discounting facility agreed with RBS Invoice Finance.

After considering the evidence for a day, the jury ruled that the pair were not guilty.

Three other individuals pleaded guilty to similar charges at an earlier hearing and will be sentenced on another occasion. They are Timothy Baker, of Wolverhampton Road, Walsall; Rachael Baker, of Great Saredon, Wolverhampton; and Stephen Roberts, of Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton.