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Whitehall fraud costs taxpayer £12m

Published on 21 Dec 2009 under category: legal

Whitehall fraud crimes have hit taxpayers in the pocket to the tune of millions of pounds, it has been revealed.

New figures from the Treasury have shown that fraud in government departments reached £4.2 million last year.

Meanwhile, the figure for the last three years is more than £12 million.

There were 1,320 instances in the period of 2008 to 2009, including the filing of false expenses claims and the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds in goods.

Other cases included a civil servant claiming for more than £45,000 in false overtime over a two-year period and the theft of bank cheques worth £29,400.

The Treasury revealed that some of the individuals found to have carried out such fraud crimes have been dismissed from their positions.

Earlier this month, Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto State and presidential candidate in Nigeria, was arrested in connection with fraud crimes.

The arrest took place during a raid of opposition leaders and was conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

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