A MAN accused of embezzling nearly £80,000 from a Greenock company in a single day is set to stand trial before a jury.

Simon Fellows is charged with siphoning off the money from successful export firm PG Paper whilst employed as the company's sales manager.

It is alleged that Fellows, 53, helped himself to £79,194 during the course of one working day on March 29 in 2017.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge through lawyer Amy Spencer after appearing at the sheriff court for a pre-trial calling of the indictment case.

The court was told that sanction for Fellows to be defended at trial by counsel had been refused.

Solicitor Ms Spencer said: "This is because the case is in fact not as complex as first thought."

The Telegraph told in May last year how Fellows was apprehended by police in the village of Northop in Flintshire, north-east Wales, and driven 270 miles to Inverclyde for an initial court appearance on petition.

The Crown says he committed the alleged embezzlement at PG Paper's HQ in the west wing of Greenock's Custom House.

PG Paper now operates in 55 countries worldwide, including China, India and South America, and in 2019 opened a sales office in New York.

In 2020, the company exported more than 5,000 containers of various types of paper around the world — an 11 per cent annual increase on 2019.

Businessman Puneet Gupta, who runs the company with his wife, Poonam, was named Businessman of the Year at the annual Scottish Asian Business Awards in 2016.

A year later Poonam was awarded the OBE.

Accused Fellows, of Maes Celyn, Northop, is due to go on trial in Greenock on June 5 next year.

The case is anticipated to run for four days.