A FORMER director of audit firm KPMG fiddled the company out of more than £40,000 by fraudulently claiming expenses on hotels and international flights, a court has heard.

Brian Chapman, 55, who commuted by air between Edinburgh to London, made 52 duplicate claims for expenses between 2007 and 2011 totalling £40,771.94p, including for various business trips to China, Toronto, Frankfurt, Prague and Chicago.

Chapman, from Glasgow, also claimed £4,211.55 for other flights which were later cancelled and refunded to his personal account, prosecutor Hugo Lodge said.

The company became suspicious over his claims for Vodafone bills and launched an internal investigation leading to Chapman's dismissal for gross misconduct in April 2012.

In total, Chapman, who was on a salary of more than £100,000, made £44,983.49 in fraudulent claims over five years.Chapman did not deny that duplicate expenses claims were made but insisted to police that he had "not set out to be deliberately dishonest".

He denies a single charge of fraud.

The trial was adjourned until today.