PROSECUTORS have began attempts to recover the ill-
gotten gains of an oil company executive, who stole more than £1.3 million from her employer.
Crown Office lawyers are using proceeds of crime legislation to recover cash from 46-year-old Jacqueline McPhie.
READ MORE: Scots firm at centre of organised crime probe into weapons deal
She was jailed for three years and four months earlier this month by judge Lady Wise at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Lady Wise imposed the sentence after hearing how McPhie stole £1,376,935 while working as the vice president of Finance at Altus Intervention in Aberdeen.
She was being paid more than £146,000 per year when she used the stolen cash to spend £52,000 on a new kitchen for her house.
The Aberdeen resident also paid £80,000 for a new Range Rover car and between £60,000 to £70,000 on a new garage and she spent thousands on designer clothes.
When she was finally caught, police discovered that she had only £238,701.90 of the sum that she had embezzled from the firm remaining in her possession.
It also emerged that McPhie was given community service and probation 16 years ago after she was convicted at Paisley Sheriff Court of stealing £250,000 from another one of her former employers.
McPhie, then of Balloch, Dunbartonshire, stole the sum while working as a finance manager with Inventec, a firm based in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire,.
She was also charged with embezzling £20,000 in April 1997 while employed as a finance manager with the Greenock-based Chicony Electronics Limited.
READ MORE: Scots firm at centre of organised crime probe into weapons deal
However, prosecutors dropped that allegation after she pled not guilty.
Yesterday, the proceeds of crime action called for the first time before judge Lord Burns. McPhie was not present in court.
The proceeds of crime action will next call on September 26.
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