The one with the
employee and their free kitchen extension…

Advise was provided to a large housing association in relation to an investigation into a framework contractor.  It was alleged that the contractor had colluded with an employee in the housing association’s property and maintenance division.   

Our initial work related to the investigation stage.  Having discovered a series of irregular transactions involving a senior employee, it was identified how the employee and contractor together had together circumnavigated procurement guidelines so to result in more work for the contractor. 

Court proceedings including a freezing injunction were threatened against the contractor.  The allegations were brought to their attention, namely in terms of duplicating charging and splitting contacts to lower values to avoid procurement guidelines.

Resolution was achieved to compensate the housing association. The contractor relationship was terminated.  The process followed allowed the housing association to have a structured dialogue with their regulator showing how they had systematically dealt with the discovery of the fraud through to the conclusion of the case.