Employee puts unemployed wife on payroll, defrauds company of over Rs 4 crore for 10 years

An employee of a private recruitment company in Delhi allegedly executed a plan with great cunning, resulting in a loss of crores for the company over a decade. The former finance manager at ManpowerGroup Service Private Limited, Radhaballav Nath, cleverly manipulated the company's payroll system and fraudulently added his unemployed wife to the payroll, ensuring that she received a regular salary for more than ten years, amounting to about Rs 4 crore.

This shocking act came to light in December of last year when the company realised that their records had been tampered with. An internal enquiry conducted by the Delhi-based company confirmed the manipulation.

Last week, the company filed an FIR with the Delhi Police to initiate a formal investigation into the matter. ManpowerGroup offers staffing and recruitment services to several companies.

Also Read: Reliance Jio launches JioBook (2023) in India at a price of Rs 16,499: Check details

According to the FIR filed by ManpowerGroup with Delhi Police, Radhaballav Nath, who joined the firm in 2008 as an assistant manager (finance) and was subsequently promoted to the position of manager (finance), devised a plan to generate income for his unemployed wife at the company's expense.

The company had strict data privacy measures, allowing accessibility to the monthly payroll and reimbursement data only to three officers: the director (human resources), the chief human resource officer (CHRO), and Nath.

Nath served as the interface between the external payroll vendor and the company's other departments, such as HR and finance. He provided data related to new joiners, departures, and employees' attendance to the payroll vendor for preparing the monthly pay register.

After preparing the register, the vendor sent it back to Nath, who forwarded it to the director (HR) for approval and then to the CHRO for final approval. Once approved, Nath was responsible for sending the final pay register to the bank for salary release.

Watch: Hero MotoCorp share price tanks 4%; See what's dragging the stock; check details of ED raids at CEO Pawan Munjal’s residence

Watch: ‘Euphoria’ star Angus Cloud dies at 25, months after his father’s demise; Know more about his fame as Fez in the Zendaya starrer series HBO and his other roles

Before sending it to the bank, Nath allegedly manipulated the records and inserted his wife's name, according to the company's claim.

The company's internal investigation revealed that Nath used the computer system of another employee, who also worked as a manager (finance), to upload the manipulated payroll file on the bank's portal. After uploading the file, he would delete it from the system.

"The modus operandi adopted by Mr Radhaballav Nath was that after receiving the approved Excel file containing the payroll data from the office of the CHRO, Mr Radhaballav Nath used to insert an additional row having his wife's name, Sasmita Raul @ Sasmita Nath, in the said excel sheet containing the payroll data," the FIR read.

It added, "Along with inserting the name, he used to add the salary amount in his wife's name. He also used to tamper with his own salary figure. Thereafter, the manipulated payroll file used to be uploaded to the bank portal by Mr Radhaballav Nath, through which the salaries of all ManpowerGroup employees used to be transferred."

"Mr Radhaballav Nath was suspended on December 11, 2022, and an internal committee was constituted by ManpowerGroup, which sought his presence to explain the discrepancy noted in the team meeting dated December 8, 2022," the FIR said.

The complaint further added that on being confronted with evidence, Nath admitted that he had illegally transferred Rs 3.6 crore to his wife's bank account from 2012 onwards. He also confessed to inflating his salary and transferring Rs 60 lakh to his account over the last several years. This fraud by Nath resulted in a total loss of Rs 4.2 crore to the company.

Nath also confessed that he used the money to buy properties in Delhi, Jaipur, and his hometown in Odisha, besides investing in mutual funds and other financial schemes, the company stated.

"ManpowerGroup checked its records, and it shows that it has never employed the wife of Mr Radhaballav Nath in any capacity. This fact was also admitted by Mr Radhaballav Nath during the internal investigation," the FIR reads.

(With PTI inputs)

Watch: Video shows councillor from Andhra Pradesh hitting himself with slipper for failing to fulfil poll promises; netizens applaud ‘honesty’ of the councillor who works as auto driver