guardian.co.uk,
Josephine Moulds, Friday 25 May 2012
Lloyds Banking Group's headquarters in London. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/Press Association Ima |
A former
head of fraud at Lloyds Banking Group has herself been charged with a £2.5m
fraud, causing blushes at the part-nationalised bank.
Jessica
Harper, 50, is accused of submitting false invoices to the tune of £2.46m when
working as head of fraud and security for digital banking. It is thought her
work involved managing supplies and that the invoices did not relate to
personal expenses.
The fraud
is alleged to have started in September 2008, shortly before Lloyds had to be
bailed out by the taxpayer. The UK government owns 41% of Lloyds after
funnelling £20bn of rescue funds into the bank during the financial crisis.
Harper, who
lives in Croydon, south London, will appear before Westminster magistrates
court next Thursday, charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position.
Andrew
Penhale, deputy dead of the CPS central fraud group, said: "The charge
relates to an allegation that between 1 September 2008 and 21 December 2011
Jessica Harper dishonestly and with the intention of making a gain for herself
abused her position as an employee of Lloyds Banking Group, in which she was
expected to safeguard the financial interests of Lloyds Banking Group, by
submitting false invoices to claim payments totalling £2,463,750.88, to which
she was not entitled."
He said the
CPS had decided there was "a realistic prospect of conviction and a
prosecution is in the public interest".
Lloyds
said: "As the court process is ongoing it would be inappropriate for us to
comment."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.