A former finance manager at ManpowerGroup Service Private Limited in India allegedly manipulated the company's payroll system and fraudulently added his unemployed wife to the payroll, ensuring that she received a regular salary for more than ten years, amounting to about INR 40 million (USD 484,384), reports Business Today. The fraud came to light last December when the company realised that their records had been tampered with. An internal enquiry conducted by the company confirmed the manipulation. Last week, the company filed a report with the Delhi Police to initiate a formal investigation into the matter.

According to the report filed by ManpowerGroup with Delhi Police, Radhaballav Nath, who joined the firm in 2008 as an assistant manager (finance) and was subsequently promoted to the position of manager (finance), devised a plan to generate income for his unemployed wife at the company's expense. The company had strict data privacy measures, allowing accessibility to the monthly payroll and reimbursement data only to three officers: the director (human resources), the chief human resource officer (CHRO), and Nath.

Nath served as the interface between the external payroll vendor and the company's other departments, such as HR and finance. He provided data related to new joiners, departures, and employees' attendance to the payroll vendor for preparing the monthly pay register.  Nath allegedly manipulated the records and inserted his wife's name. He also allegedly manipulated his own salary figure.

The company's internal investigation revealed that Nath used the computer system of another employee, who also worked as a manager (finance), to upload the manipulated payroll file on the bank's portal. After uploading the file, he would delete it from the system.

ManpowerGroup’s complaint further added that, on being confronted with evidence, Nath admitted that he had illegally transferred money to his wife's bank account from 2012 onwards. He also confessed to inflating his salary and transferring money to his account over the last several years. The total fraud resulted in a loss of INR 42 million (USD 508,615) to the company. The report stated, “ManpowerGroup checked its records, and it shows that it has never employed the wife of Mr Radhaballav Nath in any capacity. This fact was also admitted by Mr Radhaballav Nath during the internal investigation.”