Chief inspector IDs auditors for fraud
Report identifies some auditors as aiding criminals to conceal criminal activity
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.