A Newbury Park man employed at a City of London company has been jailed after processing fake invoices for payments totalling almost £670,000.

Shazeb Iqbal, 23, of Monarch Way, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison on August 23 at Inner London Crown Court.

On November 19 2019, he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the same court.

Iqbal processed 29 fake invoices between July and August 2017 which appeared to come from the personal assistant to the CEO of his employer.

In total, the fake invoices, which purported to be from various companies, were worth £668,000.

Temporary Det Sgt Darren Norton, from the City of London Police, said: “This was a shameless and ludicrous attempt by an employee to defraud his employer out of a substantial amount of money.

“This is a great result and reflects that cases like this will be pursued by law enforcement..”

An internal review conducted by the company discovered that all of the invoices were processed instantly by Iqbal.

This was flagged as suspicious as most invoices were not typically processed until hours or days after being received.

Iqbal was reported to the City of London Police and arrested on September 7 2017.

In his police interview, he denied knowledge of the invoices and claimed that the speed at which he processed them was due to his being a very efficient worker.

A search of a computer seized from Iqbal’s home uncovered a copy of a fake invoice that had similar features to those he had processed in the summer of 2017.