Beggs welcomes Northern Ireland’s Inclusion into the National Fraud Initiative.
Roy Beggs MLA, Ulster Unionist Spokesperson on the Public Accounts Committee has welcomed the inclusion of Northern Ireland into the National Fraud Initiative as a result of its inclusion in the Serious Crimes Bill and which can into effect on 6th April 2008.
In a Statement Mr. Beggs said,
“I welcome the inclusion of Northern Ireland into the National Fraud Initiative which will result in significant data matching and will increase the likelihood of identifying fraud which may have gone previously unnoticed. This new provision will not only detect additional fraud and error but I believe will also deter many acts of fraud from taking place in the first place, as those contemplating fraud become aware of the increasing likelihood of detection.
“The National Fraud Initiative has been successful in identifying up to £400m worth of fraud and overpayments to date. The 2004/05 figure of £111m of fraud and error is suspected to increase substantially to £125m for the last full financial year of 2006/07. Significant amounts of public funds have, by fraud or in error, been allocated and this leaves less money available for the public purposes that it was originally intended for”.