Corruption in the workplace is nothing new. In fact the cases that actually come to light are probably only a tip of the iceberg.

In our Summary Court last Tuesday (24) two government health workers, Dominic Fernando Dacres and Nick Romano Smith, appeared before the magistrate on charges of false accounting and obtaining property by deception.

The false accounting was overtime claims for pay that were not worked.

We, the public, actually have to pay the salaries of these two thieves, makes me very angry. That they want to fleece us out of our hard worked for monies doesn’t enter their heads.

The false accounting happened a full twelve months January to December of 2017.

Mr. Smith (Nick) was Mr. Dacres supervisor, and he knowingly OK’d the false documents Dacres submitted to him. He also did the same thing with another man not named. This one was for thirteen months.

Smith received a third charge of breach of trust, that was deemed more serious and is to be dealt with by the Grand Court.

It has been argued that men are more corrupt than women. Or women are better at not being found out.

It would seem women make better traffic police. Statistics from various countries taken from men seem to point that whilst male police officers might “turn a blind eye” to an offense, you can forget about even bothering to try.

However, when it comes to false accounting there is nothing to suggest gender is a factor.

If safeguards are put in place, and are seen to be in place, corruption in the workplace is normally a non-starter. It is when “trusted employees” in large organizations have been given the “keys to the kingdom” with little or no oversight and control, just like our government Health Service.fraudulent or corrupt behavior will occur.

If safeguards had been in place then it would not have taken a year for someone to have been caught.

It would be nice to know how these two men were eventually found out. Was it due to the Auditor General?

If you do not believe that fraud and corruption is possible in the workplace, you will never identify it, even if it is clearly evident.

A fraudster will only commit fraud when there is a perceived opportunity to solve their problems in secret. They don’t anticipate getting caught.

If a fraudster rationalizes their conduct, to them it is legal or justified. Thus, they don’t see their actions as something they should be punished for.

I firmly believe corruption in the workplace is actually a very easy thing to stop as it usually needs more than one person’s involvement.