Fleet fraud costs council $1.5m

A probe into Dunedin City Council lays the loss of $1.5 million at the door of the former manager of its Citifleet division. The council engaged Deloitte in May after staff identified what appeared to be a discrepancy in the number of its fleet vehicles.Soon afterwards, Citifleet’s manager died. The alleged fraud comes in at more than $1.5m and centres on the council receiving no proceeds the sale of 152 vehicles. A complaint was laid with the police in August. Of 274 asset disposals covered, 152 were on-sold with no funds returning to the city, while 103 more were sold with no way of ascertaining if correct values were achieved. There were car dealers involved and 14 units sold to the trade, with the police asked to investigate any issues arising from Deloitte’s report. Sue Bidrose, the council’s chief executive, says the report places the blame on the former manager of Citifleet, Brent Bachop. She says: “The report is clear that a single person committed the fraud in different ways over an extended time. The fact this could happen was an indictment on our business processes and we’ve made efforts to improve them. “This work was already under way and this was how the fraud was uncovered. Measures have been taken to ensure appropriate accountability and oversight is in place in future.” Bidrose says the council has completed employment processes flagged up in the report. The local body has received a $1m insurance payment following the fraud.