Prosecutors have started the process of trying to recover cash from a shamed oil company executive who stole more than £1.3million from her employer.
Crown Office lawyers are using proceeds of crime legislation to pursue 46-year-old Jacqueline McPhie for the money.
She was jailed for three years and four months earlier this month at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Judge Lady Wise imposed the sentence after hearing that McPhie stole £1,376,935 while working as the vice-president of finance at Altus Intervention, in Portlethen.
She was on an annual salary of more than £146,000 when she embezzled the cash to spend £52,000 on a new kitchen for her house.
McPhie, who lived in Aberdeen’s Great Western Road, also paid £80,000 for a new Range Rover, spent £60,000-£70,000 on a new garage and blew thousands of pounds on designer clothes.
When she was finally caught, police discovered she had only £238,701.90 of the money she had stolen from the firm.
It also emerged that McPhie was given community service and placed on probation 16 years ago after she was convicted at Paisley Sheriff Court of stealing £250,000 from another of her former employers.
McPhie, then of Balloch in Dunbartonshire, stole the money 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 working as a finance manager with Greenock-based Chicony Electronics.
The allegation was later dropped.
The proceeds of crime action called for the first time before judge Lord Burns yesterday.
McPhie was not present in court.
Her counsel, advocate David Moggach, and advocate depute Barry Divers asked for the case to be adjourned to September 26.
Mr Moggach told the court that the matter “could be resolved” the next time it calls in court.
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