COUNCILLOR Bernard Sealy, the Labour Group leader on Shepway council, has been convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of a £16,000 fraud.

The 50-year-old chartered accountant was fined £10,000 and ordered to repay the amount he misappropriated. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,414 plus his own costs.

The court heard that Sealy, of Earlsfield Road, Hythe, was in financial difficulties when he resorted to dishonesty over a debt.

Gordon Menzies, prosecuting, said Sealy took £16,200 from a railway company he was involved with and paid it to an engineering firm he owed money to. He then falsified an invoice to cover his tracks.

Sealy denied obtaining a money transfer by deception and false accounting. He was convicted on both charges.

After the hearing, Sealy maintained his innocence and vowed to continue to serve on the council.