RAF’S top man in Pentagon ‘hid £20,000 fraud from wife’
Wing commander squirelled cash into secret account after dishonest rent claims, court told
THE RAF’S most senior officer at the Pentagon hid a £20,000 housing fraud from the Ministry of Defence and his wife, a court has heard.
Wing Cdr Alex Drysdale is accused of squirrelling away the cash in a secret bank account when he was seconded to a role at the Department of Defence in Washington DC.
After taking up a senior post with Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC), Wing Cdr Drysdale, a military strategy specialist, allegedly arranged for an overseas rent allowance (ORA) of £2,408 a month to be paid into a new account known only to himself.
A military court sitting in Catterick, North Yorks, heard that Wing Cdr Drysdale had told his wife, who was studying to become a nurse, that the ORA would no longer be sent to their joint account. But it is alleged that unbeknown to her he continued to claim the cash and had it paid into his account.
Wing Cdr Drysdale, who began his career as a search-and-rescue pilot in Scotland in 2006, denies defrauding the Ministry of Defence out of £19,502 claiming his failure to report a change in circumstances was “an oversight”.
But the court was told he submitted a false document in support of his claim, which amounted to “a lie intended to conceal a deliberate fraud”. Cdre James Farrant, prosecuting, told the court: “He opened a new bank account to conceal these matters from his wife. He transferred the allowance payments from their joint account to a bank account that was his and his alone. “He told his wife that he expected the allowance to cease and he knew that she was under that impression. She did not know he was still claiming it. He did this because he intended to keep and use the funds for himself.”
The hearing was told that British service personnel working overseas are entitled to ORA if they rent property during their posting. However, if they buy their home the allowance will stop.
Mr Drysdale and his family had been in the US since 2011, while he worked mostly in Nevada.
The family rented a property in Las Vegas, paying the rent but claiming it back from British Defence Services, which also paid them a fuel and lighting allowance.
However in 2021, Wing Cdr Drysdale and his wife decided to buy their home, but he did not declare the sale and secretly continued to claim back the rent.
Cdre Farrant said the fraudulent behaviour began soon after Mr Drysdale was promoted in March 2021.
It meant he was told he would be leaving his role at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for a new post with AFWIC based 2,400 miles away at the Pentagon.
Wing Cdr Drysdale decided to leave his family behind in Las Vegas because his wife had started a nursing degree. Wing Cdr Drysdale denies fraud by false representation. The trial, expected to last a week, continues.