Privatisation of Abbeywood MoD procurement may only increase fraud

bristol | policing | news report Monday March 12, 2012 22:19 by Tony Gosling

29:00 - Tens of billions wasted as MoD police fraud squad turn a blind eye to procurement crime: Bristol’s Abbeywood Defence Equipment and Support (DES) is the national HQ for Ministry of Defence (MoD) procurement. But we uncover systematic fraud involving the MoD and the private weapon development and manufacturing industry as the government plans to privatise procurement. Cost plus contract fraud report by former radar, sonar, Communications Command & Control and Tactical Data Systems software engineer Robert McCartney. MoD police fraud squad work for MoD so will not prosecute even when there is clear evidence of fraud saying that what MoD chiefs and other ‘important people’ say ‘must be true’. Former BAe Chief Executive Admiral Sir Raymond Lygo told BBC Radio 5 in January 2004 that BAe routinely used changes to the contract specification which doubled or tripled costs to taxpayers without any outside competition. Some of those allegedly to blame for endangering our armed forces and national security: James Arbuthnot, Michael Portillo, current LibDem Minister for Defence Procurement Nick Harvey all alleged as complicit in fraud, if only by their ailure to act against it. Also LibDem director of policy and research Greg Simpson failed to deliver improvements he promised before the 2010 election. The 2006 crash of Nimrod XV230 investigated by Charles Hadden-Cave. Is present chair of the Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge succeeding in cutting this fraud down? Mainstream newspapers afraid to publish known facts about MoD procurement fraud.

Government plans to privatise procurement (Guardian)