£40bn bill for fraud epidemic

BRITAIN is in the grip of a fraud epidemic that costs between £32 billion and £40 billion a year - three times higher than the official estimates, according to a respected expert.

Ros Wright, chairwoman of the independent Fraud Advisory Panel and former head of the Serious Fraud Office, says the situation is 'getting worse and worse'.

There is growing evidence that criminal gangs are targeting individuals in companies, she told delegates at the annual conference of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers in Paris last week.

The gangs' aim is to coerce and bribe disgruntled employees to give away financial secrets.

'Once they have that information, they can start to milk companies of millions and millions of pounds,' she said.

Wright believes 51% of all crime in companies is committed by employees. Most of these workers were merely greedy, but a growing number have been targeted by outside forces.

A convicted money-launderer, Humberto Aguilar, told the conference the secret of his past success had been getting to know bank managers in Latin America and giving them Rolex watches.