Accountant who stole £150k from Tintin publisher avoids jail

Accountant, 37, who stole £150,000 from publisher of Tintin and Fireman Sam avoids jail after judge hears he has paid back £85,000 and will return £750 a month to settle the balance

• Ex-Accountant Rizwan Sami, 37, defrauded publisher Egmont out of £150,000
• He stole money for more than a year and sent some money to family in Pakistan
• He admitted fraud by abuse of position at Southwark Crown Court this morning
• Sami got a suspended sentence as he’d paid back £85k and is repaying the rest

An accountant who stole £150,000 from the publisher of children’s classics including Tintin and Fireman Sam was spared jail after he agreed to pay back the money.

Rizwan Sami, 37, defrauded Egmont UK Ltd for more than a year and sent some of the money to elderly relatives in Pakistan.

Egmont UK Ltd – the British arm of Danish media giant Egmont Group – is also the publisher for Thomas & Friends and Michael Morpurgo.

Sami appeared at Southwark Crown Court this morning wearing a red puffer jacket and blue surgical face mask.

Rizwan Sami, 37, an accountant admitted stealing £150,000 from the publisher of children’s classics and was handed a suspended sentence at Southward Crown Court (pictured) today

Sami defrauded Egmont UK Ltd – publisher of children’s classics including Tintin and Fireman Sam (TV show pictured) – for more than a year and sent some of the money to elderly relatives in Pakistan

He admitted fraud by abuse of position and was given a suspended jail sentence after a judge heard he has paid back £85,000 and will pay £750 a month to settle the balance.

Josh Normanton, defending, said the married father-of-one is currently ‘staring into the abyss’ and pleaded for him not to be jailed.

‘He acts as a primary carer for dependant relatives. He would have a wife and child left in an extremely vulnerable position if he is sent to prison.’

Sami, originally from Pakistan, came to the UK in 2009 and studied for a postgraduate diploma in Marketing at Anglia Ruskin University. He became a British citizen in 2017.

‘At the end of 2015 the nature of his work changed, and he was asked to take on far more work and even take on the work of others whose employment had ended, he asked for more money but wasn’t given it.

‘He began offending in July 2016 into early 2017, some of the money went out to Pakistan to his elderly relatives

‘He accepts his offences includes a lot of dishonesty and greed.

‘He decided to stop acting in that way, as he gained something of a conscience, and left the role of an accountant in 2017.

‘Clearly he didn’t have the strength of character to return to Egmont and own up to what he had done,’ said Mr Normanton.

Egmont UK also publish the Thomas & Friends books (Thomas the Tank Engine TV series pictured)

Since the offences Sami has been involved in many charity fundraising events including ‘Feed The Homeless’ events and volunteered throughout the covid-19 pandemic.

‘He is now an employee of a software company and is no longer doing accounting.

‘He is a different man to the man he was since the start of 2015; he is involved in faith activities and is now a father and husband, all of that is against the backdrop of a struggle with mental health since 2017.’ said Mr Normanton

Since he was charged last year Sami has repaid £85,000 back to Egmont, the court heard.

Judge James Tayler said: ‘This falls in high culpability because of the abuse of the defendant’s position of power trust and responsibility.

‘I respect the defendant has real remorse for what has occurred, there has been a significant time of apprehension between the charging of this offence and coming to sentence.

‘The defendant has now paid back £85,000. I consider that those factors together with the very considerable work he has done in his community should be taken into account.

‘I still conclude that this is an offence so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified, it is unavoidable that there be a sentence of imprisonment.’

Sami, of Putney, admitted fraud by abuse of position, between 22 July 2016 and 19 September 2017.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay back £750 a month for three years.

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