Public Sector

An ex-finance officer at a local council has been jailed after he stole almost £1m to fund his gambling addiction.

Alan Doig, 57, abused his position at Gedling Borough Council to transfer £934,343.30 into his own bank accounts between 2003 and 2022.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Doig was employed as a Senior Assistant Accountant and was responsible for the council’s creditors system, which included the ability to generate invoices and make payments to suppliers.

A man who applied for COVID Bounce Back Loans using fake business names and fake account details has been sentenced to 19 months in prison at Bristol Crown Court.

Attila Kovacs, 45, of Gloucester Road, was investigated by Bristol Trading Standards after they discovered evidence during a different investigation of false loan applications totalling £96,500.

The government will bring forward a new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill in this parliamentary session to crack down on fraud in the social security system.

New laws to be introduced to crack down on fraud - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Welfare fraudsters will be dealt with faster under new legislation expected to save the taxpayer £1.6 billion over the next five years, the Prime Minister is set to announce.

PM to promise welfare fraud crackdown in bid to free up cash for public services | Central Fife Times

A fraudster who owes the government tens of millions of pounds defrauded the government to pay them back, a court heard. Gerald Smith, who has already served two prison sentences for fraud, was found guilty of cheating taxpayers during the pandemic to pay legal fees, related to a £72million confiscation order, while claiming the money was for his business Arcana Solutions Ltd.

Fraudster who owes £72million jailed after he's caught in £50k Covid loan scam (yahoo.com)

With the rise of online activities, identity fraud now accounts for 66% of reported cases. Only by leveraging advanced analytics and AI, government agencies can enhance their defences.

Fraud poses a significant challenge across various sectors of government, draining resources and undermining public trust. It also means there is less much needed money to spend on vital resources like schools and hospitals.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/preventing-fraud-in-government-the-critical-role-of-ai-and-analytics

Covid related fraud cost every UK adult the equivalent of up to £1,000, figures show.

The analysis, carried out by Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, reveals the bill for pandemic counter measures, such as furlough and Track and Trace amounted to £370 billion. This equates to an average cost of £10,000 to each UK adult. Approximately ten percent of this spend was lost to fraud, mainly through government loan schemes, which allowed businesses to borrow tens of thousands of pounds to keep them afloat amid rolling lockdowns.

https://collateralglobal.org/article/covid-fraud-cost-each-adult-1000/

A doctor at Kingston Hospital has been found guilty of fraudulently claiming thousands of pounds for hours he did not work and is now set to be removed from the medical register.

Dr Kifayat Ullah, a locum ENT specialist, was overpaid £45,402 after submitting false timesheets over several months.

Treasury-based commissioner will work closely with officials and ministers across government, including in DHSC and Public Sector Fraud Authority.

The Treasury is offering a salary of £84,000 for the first Covid counter-fraud commissioner, a role Labour promised to introduce in its election manifesto.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/covid-corruption-commissioner-tsar-job-advert-84k-salary-treasury

The sole director of a data processing and equipment sourcing business has been disqualified for the maximum period allowed under law after obtaining £145,000 in Covid support scheme funds his business was not entitled to.

Richard Oliver was the director of Exact Data Trading Co. Ltd when it falsely secured a total of £95,000 from local authorities under the Small Business Grant Fund, introduced during the Covid pandemic.