Fraud in prospect and hindsight

The UK authorities are currently grappling with difficult questions concerning the definition, prosecution and regulatory treatment of fraud. With 15 years’ experience of investigating fraud, Tony Waters , a former Detective Sergeant who has served in the Commercial Fraud Squads of both the West Midlands Police and the City of London Police, is well-placed to give a personal perspective on some of the issues. Mr Waters is currently the joint head of the investigations division of Berkeley Security Bureau in London. He joined BSB in December 2000 from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) where he had been on secondment from the City of London Police for the previous nine years.

Tony Waters • Deputy Managing Director of Berkeley Security Bureau Ltd (BSB) 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH; tel +44 (0) 20 7979 8833; fax +44 (0) 20 7979 8830; email bsbinvestigations@compuserve.com

I began writing this article on the day that I was called to give evidence at a very large fraud trial. It occurred to me, while I was waiting to give evidence, that many of the issues which affected me when I first began investigating fraud over 15 years ago still apply today and that despite some improvement and a lot of work and effort designed to take it further.