Supplier payment fraud up by 40%, says commission_2
19 July 2012
The value of fraudulent payments to suppliers and contractors by local councils has increased by 40 per cent in the past year, according to local government spending watchdog the Audit Commission.
Its annual report, Protecting the Public Purse: Ensuring Financial Probity in Local Government, shows a rise in detected fraud from £1.7 million in 1998/99 to £2.4 million in 1999/00.
The average fraud was valued at £32,000, while the total fraudulent payments to contractors alone amounted to £1.4 million.
In one instance, the contract manager of a council...