Crooked accountant gambles away $50m

Over a period of ten years Richard Watson stole money to help pay for his gambling addiction. Photo / Dean Purcell.

A trusted accountant quietly stole from his employers for 10 years and splashed out almost $50 million at the casino.

Richard Arthur Watson spent more than 30 years as an accountant for the same company, enjoying a salary of $300,000 and healthy bonuses.

But his greed and love of gambling got the better of him and the 58-year-old used his position to steal nearly $5.5 million over 10 years.

During those 10 years he spent almost $50 million at the casino, where he was treated like a VIP on his three-times-a-week visits with his wife.

Much of that was large winnings plunged back into the casino, but he also bought property, a swimming pool, jewellery and diamonds.

Watson was yesterday jailed for six years for a crime the judge called a "gross, prolonged breach of trust" driven by greed.

Judge Charles Blackie told Watson the family he worked for trusted him because of his "integrity ... honesty and friendship".

"That was ultimately misplaced," the judge said.

Watson began working for the privately owned Ross Group in 1978. He rose to become general manager, financial controller and head accountant.

The positions he held gave him access to 26 separate company accounts and four family trust accounts.

But in 2000, after 22 years of unblemished service, temptation proved too much. More than 150 transfers were made, some for as much as $100,000. Over 10 years he took $5.495 million.

The crime was uncovered only after the company ordered an audit of accounts, which prompted Watson to confess.

Watson appeared for sentencing at Manukau District Court yesterday on two charges of theft.

The court heard that Watson's was not a sophisticated crime. He simply shuffled money from the company's accounts into his own.

The Ross family had had to put extra money into the company - including funds from remortgaging properties they owned - to keep the company going.

Defence lawyer Shane Tait told the court Watson had displayed remorse and said it was a crime driven by a "clear gambling addiction".

But Judge Blackie rejected that.

"You had a compulsion for gambling but it was something you had the ability to control, but you chose not to. In my view the compulsion to gamble was an issue but greed was another."

Watson's remorse was "fleeting, an insincere platitude".

Judge Blackie said Watson seemed to justify the crime by believing the firm did not recognise his worth.

"It seems to me you did feel you had some entitlement to steal despite a large salary and additional substantial bonuses.

"You saw you could get away with it and carried on doing so. In all likelihood you would have continued without the audit being announced. You came clean because it was fairly inevitable you would be otherwise exposed."

The court heard Watson had repaid the family about $260,000 and his five properties had been sold.

Cameron Ross, a director of the Ross Group, told the Weekend Herald the family was "reasonably satisfied" with the sentence.