An RAF man who swindled military chiefs out of nearly £100,000 had described himself as a man of “moral courage” in an online CV.
Disgraced former flight lieutenant Jason Fletcher was jailed for 18 months earlier this week.
He carried out the scam while serving in Helmand province in 2011 after being sent to Afghanistan on a mission to win “hearts and minds”.
The 42-year-old, who has lived in Pitgaveny Street at Lossiemouth for several years and was a key member of the team at the town’s RAF base, was caught after he returned to the UK.
The authorities became suspicious of the large amount of US dollars he was changing into pounds, predominantly in Lossiemouth, Elgin and Inverness.
A friend who called at Fletcher’s address yesterday with a bunch of flowers said his family would not be commenting on the case.
However, in an online CV compiled by himself, Fletcher claimed he possessed the “moral and professional courage to challenge protocols”.
Fletcher was part of a unit tasked with winning over the Afghan population.
Referring to his time there, he described himself as a production manager working with 12 commercial radio stations and all of the printed media in Helmand Province.
The role, he said, required him “to show leadership and be extremely flexible in an often dangerous and volatile environment”.
But he was also sending inflated invoices to the Ministry of Defence relating to contracts with some of the radio stations.
Fletcher then pocketed the extra cash himself.
During his long career with the RAF, Fletcher worked on the Tornado and Nimrod planes as well as Chinook helicopters
He said he was responsible for planning and scheduling maintenance activities for all the aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth.
After leaving the service, he went to work as an engineer at the Wood Group Kenny, a US-based offshore company with offices in Aberdeen.
However, he left that post in January.
As part of his role in Afghanistan, Fletcher received four invoices totalling 59,640 US dollars for contracts from three privately-owned radio stations serving the Lashkar Gah district.
But he then provided seven false invoices to Ministry of Defence representatives for an inflated total of $214,103 (around £127,000).
Lossiemouth-based Fletcher then pocketed the difference.
He admitted fraud when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court in March and was jailed for 18 months at the same court earlier this week.