Top U.K. civil servants subject of fraud probe

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 9

Top U.K. civil servants subject of fraud probe

NZPA-Reuter London Detectives are investigating claims that Britain is being defrauded of millions of dollars by civil servants. The frauds are said to involve payrolls, the sale of office equipment, and the theft of Government-owned antiques. A spokesman for the Scotland Yard fraud squad said: “We cannot comment on suggestions that major arrests are imminent. “We are investigating allegations of theft and fraud in some Government depart-

ments. Our inquiries have been going on for some time and are likely to continue for some time yet. “Several prosecutions which have already taken place, are only on the periphery of the inquiry and are for offences which came to light as a result of our investigations.” He said large sums of money and three types of irregularity were involved: One involved claiming the wages of up to double the number of manual workers employed on Government work, and sharing out the extra money.

A second method was to steal office furnishings and equipment and sell them. Some furnishings, such as lop-quality carpet, were used at the civil servant’s owm home. The third, which occurred only rarely, was to steal and sell off Government-owned antiques. One recent example of that was the disappearance of the Speaker’s State bed, 1 valued at $40,000, which eventually turned up in Wales having been bought on the antiques market.