Ex-bank boss jailed for 10 years
Donald Mackenzie had been named Manager of the Year three times
A bank manager who admitted carrying out one of Scotland's biggest frauds has been jailed for 10 years.
Donald Mackenzie, 45, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this month to embezzling £21m from The Royal Bank of Scotland.
He accessed the money through the bank's loan system by setting up false accounts in the names of fictitious customers at a branch in Edinburgh.
Judge Lord Kinclaven said the court had a duty to mark the scale of dishonesty.
Mackenzie also pleaded guilty to stealing £37,170 between 15 May 2000 and 14 April 2004 while employed by the bank.
According to investigators, he spent about five years covering his tracks by moving money around using "tens of thousands" of transactions.
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Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Kinclaven said: "Dishonesty on this scale is a serious matter and in the public interest the court requires to mark the gravity of these offences and its disapproval."
Mackenzie had been employed as a business manager at a branch in Princes Street, Edinburgh, and was named Manager of the Year for three consecutive years from 2002.
A team of 16 officers from Lothian and Borders Police sifted through the thousands of transactions.
It is thought about £10m of the money involved has still to be recovered.
What initially appeared to the bank to be a small number of anomalies did not just snowball, but avalanched into a large, complex scheme
Alex Prentice
Advocate depute
Advocate depute Alex Prentice said Mackenzie was caught after the RBS introduced a new "loan guard" computer system.
A problem was identified that the system would crash if customer information was amended during the loan process.
Bank officials traced a series of "highly suspicious" transactions, including one involving £750,000 taken from a loan account which was originally for £7,500.
When questioned, Mackenzie could not explain the anomalies and remained evasive when pressed further.
However, he then admitted to detectives he had set up as many as 70 false accounts in names similar to those of genuine bank customers.
Mr Prentice said: "What initially appeared to the bank to be a small number of anomalies did not just snowball, but avalanched into a large, complex scheme.
"It became clear within four of five months of investigation that this was an embezzlement in the region of £21m. The police required considerably more time to investigate."
'Substantial pressure'
Defence counsel David Burns QC said the multi-million pounds fraud was committed by Mackenzie "for reasons of a misguided sense of service rather than personal gain".
"He did not benefit from this scheme, in the sense that he did not obtain any of the £21m. That £21m went to genuine customers of the bank," he said.
"As a business manager he felt under substantial pressure to process large numbers of loans to business clients. He responded to that pressure by advancing money, by-passing the banks monitoring systems," said Mr Burns.
"In order to disguise the fact the loans had been advanced he opened bridging accounts in false names, drew down funds into them and paid those funds to customers," said the defence counsel.
Detective Constable Mike Harris, of Lothian and Borders Police, who was part of the investigation team, said he believed it was the biggest-ever fraud case in Scotland.
Originally posted by tvc15I know I would be out in about 3 years.
Ex-bank boss jailed for 10 years
Donald Mackenzie had been named Manager of the Year three times
A bank manager who admitted carrying out one of Scotland's biggest frauds has been jailed for 10 years.
Donald Mackenzie, 45, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this month to embezzling £21m from The Royal Bank of Scotland.
He acces ...[text shortened]... n team, said he believed it was the biggest-ever fraud case in Scotland.
Originally posted by tvc15the weird twist is-he gave it all away...not one penny for himself! 😕
Ex-bank boss jailed for 10 years
Donald Mackenzie had been named Manager of the Year three times
A bank manager who admitted carrying out one of Scotland's biggest frauds has been jailed for 10 years.
Donald Mackenzie, 45, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this month to embezzling £21m from The Royal Bank of Scotland.
He acces ...[text shortened]... n team, said he believed it was the biggest-ever fraud case in Scotland.
Originally posted by tvc15Defence counsel David Burns QC said the multi-million pounds fraud was committed by Mackenzie "for reasons of a misguided sense of service rather than personal gain".
You're trying to tell me that he never even treated himself to a Chinese now and again?
"He did not benefit from this scheme, in the sense that he did not obtain any of the £21m. That £21m went to genuine customers of the bank," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5120148.stm
So you’re asking: Would I spend 10 years in prison for £21 million? That’s a tough one. The answer is: no! I’m not overly fond of ethnic gangs, anal rape, bad food, staph infections, AIDs, tuberculosis, bad haircuts, jailhouse tattoos and abusive guards who want to show me their nightstick up close and personal.
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterI doubt this guy is going to that type of jail and I doubt he'll serve the full 10 years.
So you’re asking: Would I spend 10 years in prison for £21 million? That’s a tough one. The answer is: no! I’m not overly fond of ethnic gangs, anal rape, bad food, staph infections, AIDs, tuberculosis, bad haircuts, jailhouse tattoos and abusive guards who want to show me their nightstick up close and personal.
