A £266m money laundering case has eclipsed the latest KPMG Fraud Barometer data for Yorkshire as experts warn of ‘rampant fraud’ across the UK.
There were 12 fraud cases that exceeded £100k prosecuted in Yorkshire’s courts in the first half of this year, a steady increase on last year’s figures (H1 2021: 10). The value of a high-profile money laundering case worth £266m has skewed this year’s figures with total fraud value reaching more than £272m, up from £7.4m in the first half of last year.
Tax fraud, which includes undeclared income, failure to pay income taxes and unpaid capital gains tax, was the most common type of fraud across Yorkshire.
Annette Barker, head of Forensic at KPMG in the UK, who is based in Yorkshire, said: “We’re seeing fraud levels rise around the country as fraudsters take bold measures for their financial gain. The major money laundering case in Leeds might have taken the spotlight, but it shouldn’t distract from the underlying and cumulative threat that lower value fraud cases continue to have. We’re also acutely aware that corporate fraud is rampant across the country. Yorkshire businesses must not let their guards down as we expect more employers to be targeted and case levels will likely catch up with the national trend.
“The Government is stepping up its attention on fraud. The new Public Sector Fraud Authority will target criminal gangs who rip off the taxpayer, while the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy response on corporate governance and audit reform outlined new responsibilities for Directors in terms of making public their efforts to prevent and detect fraud in their organisations. This is a significant sea-change that will see businesses, and individuals, taking on more responsibility for tackling fraud. For business leaders that means urgently putting in place adequate controls that can detect and prevent these crimes.”
Case studies to reach the region’s courts during this period include:
- Eight defendants were put on trial by Leeds Cloth Hall Court following an investigation into a £266m money laundering operation.
- Sheffield Crown Court spared a businessman jail after he paid back £415k he’d accumulated from making false statements to avoid VAT liability, evading income tax and corporation tax.
- Leeds Crown Court sentenced a pair of solicitors to jail and demanded they pay back more than £200k after co-ordinating the theft of money from their employer’s bank accounts.
