Call to arms

Timon Molloy, Editor • The Fraud Advisory Panel can be contacted at Chartered Accountants’ Hall, PO Box 433, Moorgate Place, London EC2P 2BJ; tel +44 (0) 20 7920 8721; fax +44 (0) 20 7920 8547; email fap@icaew.co.uk

George Staple QC, chairman of the Fraud Advisory Panel (FAP), made a strong appeal for financial support when he addressed some two hundred professionals, mainly in financial services, at a recent meeting at the Guildhall in the City of London. “Fraud is a hidden tax on everybody and unless we tackle it in a skilful way, it will only get worse,” he said, citing last year’s National Economic Research Associates (NERA) survey for the Home Office, which put the cost of fraud to the UK, including detection and prosecution, at a conservative UK£13.8 billion per annum. This figure represents approximately a third of the total value of crime, a proportion that is set to rise as recession takes hold.