Former council employee prosecuted for fraud
A former employee of Birmingham City Council has been convicted of Fraud by Abuse of Position after stealing around £22,000 by forging invoices.
Mr Behram Kotwal, formerly employed as Commercial Manager at Alexander Stadium, forged invoices to customers of Alexander Stadium using his own bank details in place of the council's.
Mr Kotwal's role was to generate business for Alexander Stadium by taking bookings to rent the facilities for sports events, funeral wakes and parties.
Birmingham City Council began an investigation that led to the prosecution of Mr Kotwal after a school contacted the council to report that a payment for their sports day wasn't processing. An officer noticed that incorrect bank details were being used and reported it to the council's Corporate Fraud Team.
The investigation found that between December 2023 and April 2024, Mr Kotwal issued 23 forged invoices, of which 19 resulted in successful payment diversions to his personal bank account, totalling £21,938.98.
On 8 July 2025, Mr Kotwal pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates' Court to one offence of Fraud by Abuse of Position.
On 4 November 2025, Mr Kotwal was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to 16 months custody, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to undertake 10 days of rehabilitation and perform 180 hours of unpaid work.
An investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act has been commenced to try to recover the stolen funds. Mr Kotwal had already re-paid some of the monies prior to the court hearing.
Mr Kotwal claimed that he never intended to defraud Birmingham City Council and was only trying to speed up the booking process by arranging for customers to pay him directly.
The council has reviewed and strengthened its invoicing processes to mitigate the risk of this happening again.
Cllr Rob Pocock, Cabinet Member for Transformation, Governance and HR, said:
"For anyone to abuse their position as a trusted public servant for their own personal gain is utterly shameful and absolutely not something we will tolerate.
"As we have done in this case, the council will use the full extent of the law to root out and prosecute individuals who abuse their position and bring them to justice.
"Once the potential fraud was uncovered, the council immediately initiated an investigation and quickly dealt with the offence. We have also tightened up our internal controls to minimise the risk of this happening again."
