Public Sector

The leader of Ashfield District Council, charged with multiple offences including fraud and drug possession, will apply to face trial outside of the county.

Councillor Jason Zadrozny, 42, has previously denied 22 offences after he was arrested in November 2022 along with five other councillors from his party, the Ashfield Independents, as part of investigations into alleged fraud.

Millions of pounds were handed to people in cost of living payments but many were not eligible for the cash either due to errors or because of fraud.

Scores of people may be forced to pay their cost of living payments back to the Government.

It has been revealed that millions of pounds have been handed out to people who were not entitled to the money. This has happened due to errors or because of fraud.

Sophia Kudzai Chifamba left hospitals understaffed with her “premeditated” and “systematic” course of conduct, submitting at least 50 fraudulent timesheets between July 2018 and September 2019 while she was a trainee nurse.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/dishonest-leeds-nurse-convicted-fraud-101705549.html

Five addresses in West Yorkshire were raided in an operation involving almost 40 officers yesterday morning.

The group were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering offences as part of a national operation investigating fraud committed against over 100 local authorities giving out Covid business grants.

Finance manager Stephen Bower told the council’s audit and standards committee that sophisticated online ‘phishing’ attempts and scams targeting the council are part of a national picture of criminal gang activity.

Some frauds involve attempting to get a payout on fake bank mandates. “Luckily, we haven’t had any cases as a result of that,” said Mr Bower.

A fraudster who used false prescriptions to get £40,000 worth of drugs has been jailed.

Liam Brickley, 49, was able to obtain oxycodone and diazepam from pharmacies across Luton and Dunstable in Bedfordshire over a two-year period, by using 92 false prescriptions in four different alias names.

A Nottinghamshire council leader has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges including fraud, money laundering and possession of cocaine.

Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), who leads Ashfield District Council, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday (July 21).

The UK government is aiming to save £1.3 billion a year by tackling public sector fraud. Niall Hearty of financial crime specialists Rahman Ravelli assesses the chances of the target being met.

In a bold announcement, the UK government has set itself the target of saving £1.3 billion in this financial year by tackling public sector fraud.

The number of compliance staff in the public sector halved during the pandemic, contributing to a potential five-fold increase in fraud according to analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) of the whole of government accounts. The campaign group accuses ministers of failing to grasp the severity of the fraud crisis.

https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/government_accounts_compliance_staff_halved_as_fraud_boomed_during_the_pandemic

More than half of all company directors struck off in Britain in the past 15 months were involved in alleged fraud or abuse of Covid-19 financial support schemes, official figures have revealed.

There were 1,200 directors disqualified between 1 April last year and 30 June this year, with 611 of the cases involving abuse of Covid-19 schemes, mainly in relation to taxpayer-backed bounce-back loans. About £1.1bn of loans have already been flagged as suspected fraud or error.