Former Honda Racing boss was sacked for failing to report £160,000 overpayments into his bank account

The former boss of Honda Racing was sacked after he failed to report £160,000 in overpayments into his bank account.Havier Beltran was mistakenly overpaid for five months but made a 'deliberate and sustained choice' not to tell his employers, a tribunal heard.He claimed he 'always intended to return the money' as he had 'safeguarded' it by moving it into a different personal account, but admitted he should have 'raised the issue at an earlier stage'.Beltran's excuses were not heeded, and he was fired for gross misconduct. However, he refused to go down without a fight, taking his case to an employment tribunal where he protested unfair dismissal.But an employment judge rejected his claims due to his 'grave and weighty' misconduct.Between April and September 2025, erroneous payments worth more than £160,000 were transferred to Beltran's bank by his employer.The issue arose when he cancelled one of his two company credit cards after noticing it had been compromised that February. He had been mistakenly paid twice for expenses after he cancelled one of his company credit cards. He then claimed he had moved the money into a personal account to 'safeguard' it But in August, the company's HR manager realised they were paying twice for the same expenses on his company card and that £166,000 had been paid directly to him.There was no suggestion that Beltran had a hand in the reasons for the card's cancellation. He was called in for a meeting and 'expressed no surprise' when he was told of the overpayments and said he could transfer all the money back when required.Beltran admitted that he had realised the payment mistake in July and had seen significant amounts of money were being paid into his account.The race team manager claimed he transferred the money into his private account so it would be 'safeguarded' but was 'too busy to inform anyone' about the mistake, denying that he was waiting to see if anyone at Honda noticed.Following an investigation and disciplinary hearing, he was dismissed in September 2025 for gross misconduct on the grounds of dishonesty.The hearing found that he had shown a 'lack of candour and dishonesty' and stated that 'dishonesty has irreparably damaged the trust and confidence the Company has in your employment'.Prior to the disciplinary hearing, Beltran's ex-wife contacted the head of racing and said that he was an 'honourable and honest man' who had 'dedicated his life to Honda'. The motorbike racing boss, from Louth in Lincolnshire, began his career at Honda 37 years ago when he started as a contractor for Honda Motor Europe Limited in 1989.He later worked as an employee from 2005, and his last position in 2025 was as the Head of Racing Operations at Honda Racing Europe.But despite nearly four decades at the company, he was axed.After his appeal against the decision was rejected, Beltran took his case to an employment tribunal in Lincoln, where his claims of wrongful and unfair dismissal were dismissed.Employment Judge Muhammed Siddique said: 'The Tribunal notes that much of what happened is not in dispute.'There is no suggestion that [Mr Beltran] was in any way at fault for the money being incorrectly paid into his account.'The issue was whether the conduct, in failing to notify anyone about this money but instead retaining the money, was dishonest.'He was clearly busy with work throughout his period, but he had time to check his account, identify money that did not belong to him, and take steps to transfer it to another account.'It is not credible that he did not notify anyone due to an oversight or on account of being busy.'This was not therefore a case of mere omission or oversight; this was a deliberate act not to notify over a sustained period.'Mr Siddique added it was reasonable for Honda to 'expect its employees to act honestly and notify them when they identify such a significant error, especially when the error, if not rectified, could personally benefit them at the expense of the employer.'This was a fair and reasonable investigation, in the circumstances of the case, which established the basic facts that underpinned the disciplinary case against [Beltran]. 'Once it is accepted that this conduct was dishonest, the conduct was 'so grave and weighty' as to amount to justification for summary dismissal, even taking into account his long record of employment and previous good disciplinary record.'