Oxfam’s former head of counter-fraud has been given a jail sentence after using his position to steal more than £64,000 from the charity by submitting fake invoices for companies he controlled
The frauds committed by Edward McKenzie-Green only came to light after an internal inquiry was launched to investigate allegations that he had behaved unprofessionally while leading an Oxfam team working in Haiti following the earthquake in 2011.
Following the disciplinary proceedings, McKenzie-Green was given a £29,000 pay-off after agreeing to resign, having signed a declaration that he had not done anything which might constitute gross misconduct.
A later audit of the counter-fraud department revealed suspicious payments to two companies, Loss Prevention Associates and Solutions de Recherche Intelligence, between February and November 2011. Investigators contacted the supposed head of one company, Keith Prowse, for an explanation of invoices for 'intelligence investigation', 'surveillance equipment' and 'Haiti Confidential'.
The investigation established that Keith Prowse was in reality a pseudonym for McKenzie-Green, who had been filing fake invoices from these bogus companies. Investigators located 17 fraudulent invoices from the two companies under McKenzie-Green’s control for amounts totalling £64,612 paid out over nine months. The money went into the bank account of his friend or father, and he then transferred the cash into his own account.
McKenzie-Green pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position in March this year after police discovered a credit card application for 'Lord Prowse' with 'Sir Eddie McKenzie-Green' as the additional cardholder and has now been jailed for two years and five months. The court heard he had a serious addiction to prescription medication and had suffered a breakdown.
In a statement, Oxfam’s new head of counter-fraud, Phillip Dunn, said: ‘Oxfam is trying to become a world leader in counter-fraud investigation and to have the head of counter fraud contribute to that is immeasurably damaging.’
A spokeswoman for the charity said McKenzie-Green’s fraudulent activities were made apparent by Oxfam’s own counter-fraud measures, adding: ‘Since then our strict background checks on future employees have been strengthened further. We have also introduced measures to stop this kind of incident being able to happen again.’
