Fraud probe after council tax theft

Perth and Kinross resident landed with bill for £12,470

Perth and Kinross taxpayers were robbed of thousands of pounds by a council employee, a damning report has revealed.

One Perth and Kinross resident was hit with a council tax bill for more than £12,000 as part of the thefts, which took place over more than a year.

The officer no longer works for the local authority and was reported to the police but a council spokeswoman refused to give any more information on the fraud, despite repeated requests by The Courier.

The thefts were from at least one council tax account and through payments for bin bags and other cash transactions, an internal investigation by auditors showed.

They continued for 15 months as proper records and checks were not being carried out, the investigation found.

A Perthshire resident was hit with a council tax bill of more than £12,000 in a 15-month fraud operation by a local authority employee.

A cashier for Perth and Kinross Council swindled thousands of pounds by fiddling council tax accounts and reversing transactions, a report has revealed. The thefts were uncovered in an internal audit by the local authority, which said the former employee, who has been reported to the police, had been tweaking accounts for more than a year before being caught, due to inadequate checks and record keeping.

The fraud was detected when a resident flagged up a council tax bill totalling £12,470.94, which has since been paid back by the former Pullar House staff member.

The employee reversed more transactions for payments including the purchase of trade waste sacks, according to the report, but a council spokeswoman refused to provide the total amount stolen this way, despite repeated requests by The Courier.

She insisted the total figure was £12,470.94 and refused to comment further when asked about the other transactions mentioned in the audit, saying “we have nothing else to add”.

The spokeswoman also refused to say when the fraud took place, or whether other taxpayers had paid more than they should have for council tax or other services, saying the council does not comment on individual cases.

Initially she also declined to confirm whether the matter had been reported to the police, but acknowledged it had, after being probed further.

Police Scotland could not give information on the case without dates of the thefts, which the council refused to provide.

The audit report, which will go before councillors at a meeting on Wednesday, said the cashier had taken the money from accounts which were in credit, so they would not be flagged up as arrears.

Audit committee chairman and opposition councillor Eric Drysdale said: “This is a particularly serious matter and it is important the issues raised are carefully examined.”

“This is a particularly serious matter and it is important the issues raised are carefully examined