Assembly and Public in dark over £104,000 fraud

There has been little reaction to the news that Public funds totalling £104,000 were paid into a fraudulent bank account unlikely" to be recovered, a Welsh assembly committee has heard.

The money was paid over a four-month period by the Assembly Commission, which is the corporate body for the National Assembly for Wales.

Its public accounts committee was told police are investigating and an arrest had been made.

The incident may be be an isolated one. but it sems most of our AMs and the public are still in the dark with an assembly spokesman saying it could not give any further information about the bank account or what the money was intended to pay for while police were investigating.

Surely most of the investigation has been completed and  with commission member Peter Black  (whose Blog is silent on the matter) telling  committee members on Tuesday that £71,000 was paid into the fraudulent account during the 2013-14 financial year, and the remainder was paid this year. We are entitled to more details especially since this as already been announced as a fraud so how can more details prejudice the investigation or trial?

Peter Black said it was "highly unlikely" the commission would recover the money.

Members were told it was an isolated incident and the commission was strengthening controls around the way it records and verifies data supplied by outside bodies.

Claire Clancy, chief executive and clerk of the National Assembly for Wales, said: "The strengthened controls will help to ensure the integrity of our payments system and minimise risks from external sources".

. The Commission is responsible for ensuring the property, staff and services are provided for the Assembly. The Assembly Commission consists of the Presiding Officer and four Members from different Political parties, who each have different portfolios of work. The Commission is supported by staff in the Commission and Assembly Support Service.

The  present Commissioners for the  Assembly are as follows:

The Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler AM (Welsh Labour)

Sandy Mewies AM (Welsh Labour)

Angela Burns AM (Welsh Conservatives)

Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM (Plaid Cymru)

Peter Black AM (Welsh Liberal Democrats)

So it night not be in the interest of any of the Parties to make  much of a fuss over this.

But I hope that we are not going kept in the dark because it might embarrass a political party in Wales again.

But wee need to know  more details short of compromising any Fraud trials.

But as we know such trials are complex and do not always lead to conviction