The Treasury has announced the creation of a new ‘fraud squad’ to recover money stolen from the covid support schemes and to crack down on other organised financial criminal activity.
The new ‘Public Sector Fraud Authority’, which the UK government expects to be operational by July 2022, will recruit data analytics experts and economic crime investigators ‘to recover money stolen from covid support schemes and spot suspicious companies and people seeking government contracts’. The Treasury notes that counter-fraud experts will also run mandatory inspections across UK government programmes to assess potential vulnerabilities.
Commenting on the announcement, Nicola Finnerty, a partner in the criminal litigation team at Kingsley Napley LLP said: ‘Whether this new taskforce will make a real difference though is questionable. We have heard similar commitments before and an investment of just £25 million seems very light in terms of the scale of the problems. At this point, however, any investment in enforcement to tackle fraud is to be welcomed, both for itself and as a deterrent. We need to start somewhere in turning the tide.’
The Treasury has announced the creation of a new ‘fraud squad’ to recover money stolen from the covid support schemes and to crack down on other organised financial criminal activity.
The new ‘Public Sector Fraud Authority’, which the UK government expects to be operational by July 2022, will recruit data analytics experts and economic crime investigators ‘to recover money stolen from covid support schemes and spot suspicious companies and people seeking government contracts’. The Treasury notes that counter-fraud experts will also run mandatory inspections across UK government programmes to assess potential vulnerabilities.
Commenting on the announcement, Nicola Finnerty, a partner in the criminal litigation team at Kingsley Napley LLP said: ‘Whether this new taskforce will make a real difference though is questionable. We have heard similar commitments before and an investment of just £25 million seems very light in terms of the scale of the problems. At this point, however, any investment in enforcement to tackle fraud is to be welcomed, both for itself and as a deterrent. We need to start somewhere in turning the tide.’
