Millionaire art dealer Charles Saatchi's accountant has told a London court he did not tell his boss and his ex-wife, Nigella Lawson, his suspicions that their personal assistants were spending thousands of pounds of their money as he did not want to bother them with "trivial matters".
Rahul Gajjar said he first became aware that Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo were using credit cards loaned to them by the celebrity couple on themselves at the beginning of last year.
While Francesca's average monthly spend was STG48,000 ($A86,564) and Elisabetta's was STG28,000, the other personal assistants employed by Saatchi spent a maximum of STG8000.
Asked by prosecutor Jane Carpenter why he did not go to Saatchi and Lawson with his suspicions straight away, Gajjar said: "It was on the back burner. We were dealing with more corporate matters - more serious corporate matters - and Mr Saatchi and Miss Lawson normally didn't have time for what we thought were trivial matters."
On Wednesday, jurors at Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard the sisters were alleged to have spent the money on luxury goods and lived the "high life" as "portrayed in glossy magazines".
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Gajjar said both defendants had been given credit cards in Saatchi's Conarco Partnership account with Coutt's bank to buy items for the household.
While 35-year-old Francesca's credit limit was STG25,000 in June 2008, it went up to STG50,000 in February 2010 and rose to STG100,000 in June 2011.
Gajjar said he had been employed as finance director of Saatchi Gallery Group, part of Conarco Partnership, since June 2002.
He told jurors the couple, who went through a high-profile divorce earlier this year, had a number of personal assistants who worked "flexible" hours for them.
Asked what their roles were, he told the court: "It could be personal matters, looking after the home. It could be some work-related matters very close to Charles and Nigella."
Saatchi and the TV chef broke up after pictures were published in a newspaper showing him holding his wife of 10 years by the throat.
The court previously heard that Saatchi alleges that Lawson was so high on drugs that she was unaware of what she had or had not permitted the sisters to spend money on.
The Grillos deny the charge against them.
It is alleged that between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012, they committed fraud, abusing their positions as PAs by using a company credit card for personal gain.
