Two ex-HMRC employees doing bird for fraud
Two former HMRC employees have been handed prison sentences for committing fraud.
Tracey Oakley, who worked at St Austell tax office, falsely claimed £93,000 in tax credits during the period 2006 – 2012.
HMRC’s tax credit office discovered the fraud in February 2012 and Oakley was arrested in September that same year.
Oakley made claims for tax credits by lying that she was single when, in reality, she was living with her husband. She also falsified claims for childcare costs despite there being no childcare provision for the last 3 years of her claim. When confronted with the fraud, Oakley produced counterfeit handwritten invoices and childcare contract. The invoices showed weekly payments of £280 made in cash but when HMRC examined Oakley’s bank statements these figures did not tally.
Ms Oakley pleaded guilty at Truro Crown Court last month to wilful fraud and perverting the course of justice. She was sentenced to a total of 18 months imprisonment.
Assistant director at HMRC internal Governance Criminal Investigations, Joff Parsons, said, “HMRC investigates any suspicion of wrongdoing and our internal security systems led to this successful prosecution.”
In a separate incident, another former member of HMRC staff, Ruth Kevan, was also jailed for stealing over £164,000 from her colleagues.
Ms Kevan ran a savings scheme during the time she worked at the Southend tax office. The scheme originally started as a Christmas fund but evolved into a general savings scheme offering high interest rates. Forty colleagues invested a total of £212,000 but when the fraud was uncovered only £48,000 remained.
Kevan admitted 21 charges of fraud and one of theft and was handed a custodial sentence of 2 ½ years by Basildon Crown Court.
The court was told that Kevan had spent the money on “nice” hotels rather than using it to fund an extravagant lifestyle and that she had intended on paying it back once she had retired and in receipt of her pension in a few years’ time.
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