A former employee of a college which is at the centre of multi-million pound fraud allegations was told to “pull” invoices from its accounts before an inspection by the Charity Commission, a court has heard.
The employee has also described how a “hacker” – a male she did not know – was brought in to create “fake” financial information about the organisation before inspectors looked at the books.
The founder of Cardiff Sixth Form College, Yasmin Sarwar, is accused of fraud, theft, and money laundering charges in relation to the running of the institution. The defendant denies the allegations and is on trial at Merthyr Crown Court. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter.
On Monday the court heard from a former employee of the college, Charlotte McQuade, who joined the organisation in 2014 as a data quality assurance manager. She told the court that her job involved a number of functions including checking deposits had been paid, helping with student admissions, creating spreadsheets, general admin, and “any other tasks that were directed”.
The witness described the workplace as a “very volatile” one, and said it was clear that “Yasmin was the boss and no decision was made without her say so”. She said it was obvious from “very early on” that you had to “align” yourself with either the defendant or her then husband Nadeem Sawar, and that she chose Yasmin as “she was the one running the college”.
In response to questions from Mark Cotter KC for the prosecution, the witness told the jury that in 2015 preparations were being made for the college to be bought by another educational provider, and that as part of the process it was going to be inspected by the Charity Commission.
She it was “made very clear” to her that the college had to pass that inspection, and she said the defendant told her she was “concerned” about what a member of staff who worked as a financial assistant may say to the inspectors.
Miss McQuade said she suggested to Sarwar that if she wanted the finance assistant out of the office during the inspection she should give staff additional holiday days, and she said she was surprised when the defendant agreed to the idea.
The witness told the court that in preparation for the inspection by the Charity Commission she spent a week “sorting out the invoices”. She also said she had been told to “pull” invoices relating to spending on taxis, mobile phones and expenses for named individuals including the defendant and her husband.
Asked if Sarwar had ever said anything else about the Charity Commission, the witness said the defendant had told her she had made anonymous calls to the commission “to stop Nad [Nadeem Sawar] taking the money”.
The witness also told the court that when she turned up for work one day she found an unknown male in the office who the defendant told her was “the hacker”. She said she had previously been told someone had been hired to “create a fake Sage [accounts software] page”.
The court has previously heard how 45-year-old Sarwar initially tutored A-level students at her home and operated under the name Cardiff Centre of Excellence before the business grew and was renamed and relocated to a building on Newport Road in the city.
The company was registered as a charity and Sarwar and her then husband were listed as directors and therefore trustees of the charity when it was granted charity status.
It is the prosecution case that Yasmin Sarwar was a “wilful, intelligent and manipulative woman who was a willing participant in fraudulent activity” and that she set up sham companies “as a fraudulent mechanism to syphon huge sums of money from the charitable company”.
Yasmin Sarwar, of Hollybush Road, Cyncoed, Cardiff, denies a charge of abuse of position; two counts of theft by an employee; two counts of carrying on a business of company with intent to defraud creditors; acquiring criminal property; and three counts of concealing or converting criminal property.
Nadeem Sarwar, aged 50, has previously pleaded guilty to theft in relation to his involvement with the college.
In 2018 Cardiff Sixth Form College was bought by Dukes Education, which runs schools and colleges in the UK, Europe and USA, and all the charges in the case pre-date the sale.
The trial continues.
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