Testimony continued Thursday in a case of alleged invoice finance fraud involving IT recruiter Quo Vadis Technology Ltd (QVTL). 

Southwark Crown Court heard that an employee of Royal Bank of Scotland was told he “was no longer welcome” when he visited QVTL’s offices. 

Julie Westwood, a former accounts clerk at QVTL, told the court  she received instructions from Andrew Smith, a director of UCAT Recruitment, the company which payrolled QVTL’s contractors, “to tell him [the bank employee] to leave”.

Westwood said the RBS employee had visited the company’s Chelmsford office, in September 2006, enquiring about a reconciliation statement from QVTL that was late. 

Another Quo Vadis employee testified on Thursday about another incident in which RBS raised questions about its relationship with the IT recruiter. Deepa Sufra, who worked for QVTL as head of administration from March 2006, said she received a call from RBS about a requested drawdown of  funds from RBS Invoice Finance that would have put the recruiter over its limit.

Sufra told the court she did not remember the precise amount involved. She said then that not knowing what she should do, she asked her boss at Quo Vadis how to proceed. He then instructed her to “take as much as you can”.  When she got back to the bank and requested a smaller amount than the original request, the bank then agreed. 

Mark Starling and Stephen Lawrence, both from the Chelmsford area, are accused of conspiracy to defraud RBS Invoice Finance by abusing a factoring or invoicing facility agreement between RBS Invoice Finance and QVTL by dishonestly entering false invoices onto an online software programme. The trial continues.