/ 4 October 2005

British banker ‘borrowed’ seven million pounds

A British bank employee who stole huge sums from his employer left a note in a safe admitting he had ”borrowed” seven million pounds ($12,3-million), a court was told on Tuesday.

In fact, the true scale of financial consultant Graham Price’s theft and deception totalled nearer £10-million, Swansea magistrates’ court in South Wales heard.

Price faces 43 separate charges and asked for a further 263 offences to also be considered by the court.

Asked whether he admitted the charges, the 58-year-old Price said: ”Each and every one.”

Prosecutor Linda Baker said Price was working for the Halifax Bank when he stole the money from the bank and dozens of investors over a four-year period from 2001.

He was found out when a cash audit was carried out at the branch and three boxes taped together were found in a safe.

Inside one of the boxes was an envelope containing a note which read: ”Borrowed, seven million pounds from the Halifax”, signed by Price.

The former banker will be sentenced next month. – Sapa-AFP