Amber Harrison has fired back at allegations that she defrauded a former employer of tens of thousands of dollars saying the claims were a grudge after she had a failed relationship with the owner of the business.

Yesterday, The Australian aired claims that £10,000 had allegedly gone missing when Harrison was employed at the upmarket London bathroom renovation firm, The Water Monopoly, way back in 2001. Harrison worked as a temp at the business for four months from September to December of that year.

The managing director of the The Water Monopoly, Justin Homewood, had contacted the News Corp-owned newspapaer after he saw the ongoing press and fallout from Harrison’s affair with Seven CEO Tim Worner.

Seven West Media reportedly had no knowlege of the new allegations against Harrison.

Harrison claims any suggestion of impropriety on her part was merely “a very long grudge” on Homewood’s part after the two “had a fling”. Harrison’s comments reported on The Australian.

“Homewood and I had a fling. It ended. Quite clearly, he has held a very long grudge. I’m guilty of poor choices in men,” Harrison said.

Yesterday, Homewood implied “internal records covering Ms Harrison’s period at The Water Monopoly suggest it declared money taken totalling £9850.94: a cashed cheque for £3600, unauthorised credit card transactions of almost £2125, and a further shortfall of £4126 in petty cash.”

Homewood was now on leave, however, a spokeswoman for The Water Monopoly said she could “categorically deny there was any ­personal relationship between him and Amber Harrison”.

The News Corp journalists who are in email contact with Homewood – Will Glasgow and Christine Lacy – also contacted Seven West Media’s commercial director Bruce McWilliam to see if the network knew of the fresh allegations against Harrison or had paid money to dig up dirt on their former employee. McWilliam denied both claims.