MoD sacks 11 over fraud on expenses

ELEVEN Ministry of Defence staff have been sacked in the past two years for committing fraud on their expenses, new figures show.

The MoD topped the list of six Government departments that have launched investigations into expenses fraud, according to freedom of information requests seen by the Press Association.

The department investigated 378 breaches of expenses policy, the vast majority of which were errors, while fewer than five staff were prosecuted in relation to fraudulent claims.

The MoD said cases of fraud were rare and it had rigorous checks in place to catch those cheating the system.

Labour’s Kevan Jones, a former defence minister, said: “The high number of serious incidents of false claims, particularly within the Ministry of Defence, which is facing a budget shortfall, is concerning.

“This is an issue that requires urgent attention and ministers should be open about the scale and what they plan to do about it.”

Figures previously obtained by Mr Jones through a written parliamentary question show 1,038 MoD personnel have been investigated on suspicion of fraud since 2010. Of these, 151 resulted in convictions.

The MoD has more than 200,000 employees including military, reserves and civilian staff.

A spokesman said: “The vast majority of investigations found that there were errors made in submitting expenses, rather than fraud.”