Northern Ireland civil servants were lambasted today for failing to spot a major fraud by two employees in the small business agency, Ledu.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Local Enterprise Development Unit were condemned in a report by the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee over the fraud by two members of staff at the agency involving £220,000 of public funds.
Committee chairman Mr Billy Bell said their actions smacked of "incompetence and complacency". There had been a complete breakdown in the application of even the most elementary principles of financial control and it was "astonishing" a body which advised small firms on financial control systems had been incapable of keeping its own house in order, he said.
The first fraud, by Ledu employee Ms Barbara Atwell, involved her diverting £118,000 of public money into her personal bank account. It was discovered by Mr Tom Gribben, the organisation's assistant accountant in 1996.
Two years later it was uncovered that Mr Gribben was involved in fraud, actual and attempted, to the value of £101,000 after he used Ledu funds to purchase private travel for himself and his associates.
Ms Atwell was later jailed for two years and Mr Gribben for 12 months. The Committee said it was disappointed to learn the police had been unable to trace any of the £118,000 stolen by Ms Atwell and that neither they or Ledu were pursuing restitution.
In the Gribben case actual frauds were estimated at £40,090. In the absence of restitution Ledu sought recovery from his pension fund but were able to get only £1,300.
Mr Bell said it was simply "an unacceptable result". "Restitution is a process that does not stop. The message needs to be conveyed to fraudsters that long after the crime has been committed departments will continue to seek restitution by whatever means are at its disposal."
The report highlighted a number of "serious shortcomings" in Ledu's ability to handle fraud and in the department's ability to keep control of the non-departmental public body.
Mr Bell added: "To have one of the largest frauds in the Northern Ireland public sector is unfortunate, but to have it followed within months by another major fraud in the same unit smacks of incompetence and complacency."
PA