04.01.11
Civil servant who claimed dead man’s expenses jailed
A civil servant has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for defrauding his employers, the Department of Health and later the Ministry of Justice after stealing more than £137,000.
Over £30,000 of this was stolen when he was at the Department of Health.
The sentencing of Andre Malu, 40, of Upper Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, London, follows an investigation by the Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police, supported by the NHS Counter Fraud Service and Ministry of Justice investigators.
Malu earlier pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering offences. After taking an accountancy degree, he had been appointed as a Payroll Administrator at the Department of Health, in charge of expense claims for members of Mental Health Review Tribunals. He abused this trusted position to steal public money and send it to bank accounts that had been set up using false identity documents.
After the responsibility for administering these tribunals was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 2006, Malu kept his post and continued to generate fraudulent payments.
His dishonesty came to light when it was discovered that expenses had been claimed for a man who had died several years earlier.
Malu defrauded a total of £137, 285.80 between 1st July 2005 and 1st March 2008 through numerous bogus payments, which were generated after genuine recipients’ bank details had been altered on his employers’ computer systems.
In summing up, Recorder Carr noted that it was a sophisticated and long-running fraud.
Mick Hayes, Operational Fraud Manager of the NHS Counter Fraud Service’s Operational Support Team, said: “This is a good example of the convictions that are achieved through our close working with the Police and investigators in government departments. All suspicions of fraud against the Department of Health should be reported to the NHS Counter Fraud Service. Wherever appropriate, we will thoroughly investigate, press for prosecution and push for the strongest sanctions.”
Malu pleaded guilty to two counts of Theft contrary to the Theft Act 1968 and two counts of Concealment of Criminal Property, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (the money laundering charge).
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