Town Hall employee led life of luxury on £1.7m gains

SHOCKING revelations of how a fraudster helped mastermind a £1.7 million council swindle before splashing out on paradise holidays and designer clothes have been met with fury.
The New Journal today (Thursday) reveals the full story of how ex-council official Hieten Patel and accomplice Bruno Hofferer helped themselves to public cash in a massive scam that went unnoticed at the Town Hall for ten years.
Both men were jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday for their role in Camden Council’s biggest ever fraud.
Security in finance offices at the Town Hall is under review and Camden insists it is doing all it can to avoid being caught out by a simi-lar scam. But the case remains a lasting cause of concern.
Tory leader Councillor Piers Wauchope said last night (Wednesday): “These men got away with up to £200,000 a year over a ten year period. Camden’s response has been a complete joke.
“No manager has been disciplined for letting Patel get away with it for so long. There has been no apology and nothing to say that this can’t happen again.”
The mushrooming fraud was in the council’s housing benefits division, even though the department has regularly been heralded as one of the country’s top performers, showered with government awards and held up as an example to others.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Councillor Flick Rea said: “Random checks would probably have found what was going on at an earlier stage. We have probed to see whether things have improved.”
Camden’s treasurer Councillor John Mills, welcomed the jail sentences but vowed to stop any other fraudsters in their tracks.
He said: “We will make every effort to recover any loss of public funds that occurred because of this crime. It’s particularly disappointing that this fraud was committed by a council employee in a position of trust.”
Cllr Mills added: “The new Benefits computer system (installed in October 2003) has a range of reports that check the integrity and security of the system. It was one of these reports that highlighted the fraud.”
In answer to a question from Cllr Rea at a full council meeting earlier this month, Cllr Mills said that regular spot checks would be made to root out any future problems.
He added: “The Benefit Service has created a senior permanent position of Benefits Security Officer. This officer is responsible for reviewing internal security of the Benefits system.”