Hi °C | Lo °C Fraud prevention measures in the public sector are to come under the microscope at Stormont.
The Assembly Public Accounts Committee is today due to examine the lack of controls that allowed a civil servant to steal £70,000 from the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) between 1998 and 2003.
Long-serving employee Norman Steenson repeatedly lifted takings from an OSNI map shop, and used cheques sent in by customers to cover up the missing sums. He also issued fictitious credit notes to clear debts of customers who had sent in cheques.
His scam was finally uncovered while he was on sick leave from the mapping organisation. Steenson was arrested and subsequently received a suspended 12-month jail sentence.
An Audit Office report published earlier this year said his fraud was "not particularly sophisticated" and should have been prevented or at least halted much sooner.
It also noted that he committed his crimes by arriving at work early to open the office mail and remove cheques.
Steenson was ordered to pay £30,000 compensation to OSNI at his court hearing.
The Audit Office reported that his past employers had initiated legal proceedings to recover the rest of the stolen money. Today's Assembly committee hearing will also examine wider fraud-related issues in Government.
The recently-published Northern Ireland Civil Service Fraud Report for 2006/07 revealed that grants account for more than a quarter of cases.
This annual study, published by the Department of Finance, relates to Government departments and their off-shoot bodies.
It includes alleged as well as proven cases, and therefore does not give a figure for fraud losses.
It said grants accounted for 26% of the cases reported and 61.5% of the costs in the year
Theft accounted for 21% of the cases reported but only 1% of the cost.
