Chief inspector IDs auditors for fraud

Report identifies some auditors as aiding criminals to conceal criminal activity

Written by Gavin Hinks

Accountancy Age, 13 May 2008

The range of types and scale of fraud is almost limitless: from a child using a parent’s debit card to top-up a mobile phone, to international companies using auditors to conceal inherently criminal activity over years.

Paddy Tomkins Scitland's chief inspector of constabulary

A report from a top Scottish policeman has said that fraud across the border includes company auditors helping to hide criminal dealings.

The report from Paddy Tomkins, Scotland’s chief inspector of constabulary, identifies a host of improvements needed in government and at the level of individual police forces to improve the handling of fraud.

But in making his recommendations he said that fraud in Scotland has diverse origins.

He writes in the report: ‘The range of types and scale of fraud is almost limitless: from a child using a parent’s debit card to top-up a mobile phone, to international companies using auditors to conceal inherently criminal activity over years.When large and complex commercial frauds are detected, innocent individuals,
companies and the economy itself can all suffer as a consequence. Fraud is also used by organised crime groups to launder and increase their wealth and by terrorists to fund their activities.’

Fraud in Scotland is estimated to cost every man, woman and child £330 per year, according to the report.