Theft of assets remains top of list.

Of all the frauds suffered by government, theft of assets remains the most significant, according to the Treasury’s 1998/99 Fraud Report. Some 195 cases come under the heading and this is the third year running the category has topped the league. In value terms the most money taken was as a result of ‘fraudulent encashment of payable instruments’, which totalled more than £1m-up from just £13,000 the previous year, and involving stolen payable orders from stock or theft of cheques from post opening. Misappropriation of cash also figures large with 41 cases. Nearly a quarter involved some form of false accounting of cash and failure to record bank receipts. There were 69 cases involving travel and subsistence claims with 39% based on expenses for journeys not made or subsistence claims for which there was no entitlement. The exaggeration of mileage accounted for 32% of these frauds.