The model employee who stole $62 million

EDINBURGH - Donald Mackenzie was once hailed as a model staff member. Three times he was named business manager of the year. Yesterday he admitted embezzling £21 million ($62 million) from his firm.

Mackenzie, of Edinburgh, joined the Royal Bank of Scotland at 16, and spent almost 30 years working his way up to a position of trust as a business manager.

But in his last five years on the job, until 2004 when he was caught, he opened a web of false accounts and drew down massive unauthorised loans.

Such was the complexity of his fraud that the bank thought he was generating huge amounts of business.

It rewarded him with £35,000 in bonuses and named him business manager of the year three times in a row.

It was only after the bank introduced a new security system that his criminal activities, amounting to the biggest single fraud ever to be detected in Scotland, were discovered.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice told the High Court in Edinburgh that Mackenzie was caught after a new "loan guard" system alerted IT experts to a series of entries traced back to Mackenzie's unique password.

Experts traced a series of "highly suspicious" transactions and fraud squad detectives were eventually called in.

It took almost a year for a team of 15 officers to unravel the confusion, and Mackenzie's machiavellian scheme.

When confronted with the evidence Mackenzie admitted he had been creating false loan accounts in names similar to those of genuine bank customers.

Mackenzie also pleaded guilty to stealing £37,170 between 2000 and 2004 while employed by the bank.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing.

- INDEPENDENT