Oxford University graduate Robina Husain-Naviatti has been awarded compensation of £47,580 after being unfairly dismissed by her employer after blowing the whistle on an alleged theft of more than £300,000 of public funds.
She had been employed as deputy director of Forensic Therapies, a charity based in central London which provides counselling services in UK prisons.
In 2008, Miss Husain-Naviatti notified trustees of the charity that a grant from the Cabinet Office of £535,000 had been recorded as £240,000 in a business plan.
The tribunal heard that Steve Morris, the director of the charity, had allegedly previously falsified cheques.
Miss Husain-Naviatti also alleged that the Cabinet Office and another charity had both unwittingly paid her £35,000 salary, and that one of the payments had been siphoned off.
She also claimed that Mr Morris' entire salary was being paid several times over by various different funding bodies.
After making these allegations, Miss Husain-Naviatti was suspended from her position and later dismissed in a sham redundancy.
Watford Employment Tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed, and subsequently awarded her £48,580 for lost earnings and injury to feelings. The tribunal also recommended that the Charity Commission should mount a full investigation into her allegations.
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