Accountant arrested in food firm fraud probe.

Derbyshire fraud squad has arrested a senior accountant over an alleged #500,000 accounting anomaly at S&A Foods, a speciality foods company with imminent expansion plans, writes Michelle Perry.

The company called the police in late last month after accounting irregularities were detected.

Detective Inspector Ian Davidson, who headed the investigation, told Accountancy Age: ‘He was arrested last Friday, held for interviewing and has been bailed to come back to the police station in early March. Inquiries are still ongoing.’

S&A Foods has grown at a phenomenal rate since it was first set up by Perween Warsi, managing director, in her kitchen in 1986. It now employs around 1,300 staff with an annual turnover of around #100m. The company won planning permission in July 2000 to build another factory in Newcastle-under-Lyme, but alternative sites around the country are still being considered.

An S&A Foods spokeswoman declined to comment on the arrest of the accountant, but said that ‘it will not affect the company’s expansion plans at all’.

– For more on this story see www.accountancyage.co.uk/Business/1112997

Information on fighting fraud can be found at www.ncis.gov.uk.