Public Sector

Man accused of cheating the bankrupt Thurrock Council out of millions of pounds in order to buy luxury goods, is now being sued.

According to leaked documents, it was revealed last July that Liam Kavanagh (47) used Thurrock Council’s money to buy luxury goods.

A manager of a GP surgery in Port Talbot who stole more than £320,000 from the business has been jailed.

As practice manager at Fairfield surgery Clare Boland, 51, paid herself thousands of pounds a month on top of her £53,000 salary, disguising the fraud as payments to a locum doctor.

A ex-council worker and a roofing firm worker have been jailed for fraud and bribery after they conspired to defraud New Forest District Council.

Former council maintenance operative Richard Cullen, aged 55 from Luton, received bribes from 34-year-old Mark Diaper, who worked at a roofing company in Southampton which is now no longer trading. The bribes were paid to secure work for which inflated invoices were submitted. The amount overcharged was more than £88,000 but the jobs referred to the company were worth much more.

According to fraud prevention service Cifas, there has been an increase in people fraudulently claiming the council tax single person discount.

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Households with only one adult living at the address can apply to receive a 25% discount on their council tax bill.

But according to recent research by Cifas, one in five (21%) people say they, or someone they knew, had fraudulently claimed the discount in the past 12 months – an increase from 19% in 2022.

https://www.yourmoney.com/household-bills/news-household-bills/increase-in-council-tax-fraud-claims/

Waverley and Guildford councils hit the crisis button this week after an internal investigation into an £18.5 million overspend found “a number of serious areas of concern”.

A housing maintenance contractor used by Guildford Borough Council is already under investigation by the police after irregularities in the authority’s housing revenue account were flagged last July.

A former Goldman Sachs analyst has been found guilty of six counts of insider trading and three counts of fraud following a London trial brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Mohammed Zina, 35, was convicted on Thursday following a 12-week trial at Southwark Crown Court and five days of jury deliberation.

A fraud investigation at Guildford's housing department has been escalated to a regional organised crime unit.

The police inquiry, which was launched in November, centres on an allegation of fraud in housing repairs.

The former manager of Letchworth BID has been jailed for 20 months after pocketing £60,000 worth of COVID-19 grants.

Christopher Andoh-Wilson, of Brompton Close, Luton, was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court today (Thursday, February 8) having pleaded guilty to five offences of fraud by false representation and one of acquiring criminal property.

https://www.thecomet.net/news/24106821.ex-letchworth-bid-manager-chris-wilson-jailed-fraud/

“By the time an emergency has started, it is usually too late to take all the steps needed," NAO report warns.

Government must improve how it deals with fraud in emergency situations to protect taxpayers’ money, the UK’s spending watchdog has warned, in a report drawing on lessons from the height of the Covid pandemic.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/act-now-to-be-ready-to-tackle-fraud-in-emergencies-government-told

A leading fraud prevention company based in Wales is helping to transform the way degrees are verified, saving universities hundreds of hours of staff time per year and cutting fraud.

Advanced Secure Technologies, whose headquarters are in Cardiff, has partnered with Hedd, UK higher education’s official degree verification service, to automate and streamline the process.