MPs criticise Revenue and Customs 'shortcomings'

Tuesday, 11 November 2008 12:01 AM

A committee of MPs said shortcomings at the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office led to the chief operating officer awarding his wife a £98,000 consulting contract.

An inexperienced director, a lack of resources and shortcomings in the internal control system led to a conflict of interest within the department, the committee of public accounts concluded.

The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office was set up on in 2005 to prosecute offences for the former HM Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue (now HM Revenue and Customs) and in 2006, for the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

However, there were problems with the office from the start, the committee said.

Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee, said: "The new director of the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office was thrown in at the deep end when appointed from outside the public sector.

"With no previous public sector experience and little guidance, he started by concentrating on how the organization was performing. He did a good job, but it was at the expense of establishing robust financial procedures and controls.

"A weak control system contributed towards the chief operating officer of the organization being able, first, to award his wife a lucrative consultancy contract and, secondly, to become company secretary of her newly established limited company."

The finance team was under-resourced and inexperienced, the human resources section was short staffed and the department did not have basic finance, procurement and human resources policies and procedures in place, the committee concluded.

In addition, the director lacked the necessary support, training and experience to identify or mitigate the risks.

The shortcomings called into question the level of support offered to the department by HM Treasury, the committee added.

Tags:
• crime
,
• domestic policy
,
• policing and crime