A link between recession and fraudThe big accountancy firm KPMG counts cases of serious fraud that come to court.
In the first half of 2009 there were 160 such cases, the highest number for 21 years. The volume is attributed to people increasingly desperate due to the economic recession.
Two cases were highlighted. A social worker invented a children’s home to siphon off over £600,000 of public funds and a secretary who claimed to have cancer to get leave from work paid £600,000 into her own account by paying wages there. She paid for plastic surgery which one would not think of as a recessionary necessity.
Funny old world but makes an interesting change from bean-counting.
jgs- 2009
