Gedling Borough Council recovers £330,000 of £1m stolen by former accountant Alan Doig

Alan Doig transferred the cash meant to pay for public services into his own bank accounts

Gedling Borough Council has already recovered £330,000 from a former employee who stole almost £1 million from the authority over 20 years. Ex Senior Assistant Accountant Alan Doig, 57, authorised regular payments to himself to fund his gambling addiction.

He admitted the fraud and was sentenced to five years in prison last Wednesday (October 2). On Monday (October 7) the council said it had already got back £330,000 after Doig’s pension was seized.

A Nottinghamshire Police investigation identified 86 fraudulent transactions over the course of two decades, totalling £934,343.30. A Proceeds of Crime hearing will be heard by the courts at later date to determine how the council could be paid back the rest of the amount.

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Any money which can’t be recovered from Mr Doig will be covered by insurance, the authority said. Mr Doig had been using his insider knowledge to generate council invoices and enrich himself for two decades, the courts heard.

His fraud was only discovered in 2021 when new regulations and post-Covid ways of working required him to change his methods, making colleagues suspicious. The Labour-run authority says it informed councillors and staff once the charges became public on the advice of Nottinghamshire Police, and the group leaders and Audit committee were notified earlier.

The council says measures put in place to prevent a repeat include an in-depth forensic analysis of their financial system and more secure controls. All staff have also received fraud awareness training.

Doig pleaded guilty to obtaining a money transfer by deception and fraud by abuse of position. Chief Executive Mike Hill said in an earlier statement: “Our organisation is in shock that we are the victims of a crime carried out by a long-serving employee, who was in position of trust, and who abused the system to commit fraud on such a scale.

“This was a criminal act and the sentencing reflects the crime and we believe that justice has been served. Only someone with key insider knowledge could have done this, and we would not have been able to prevent this from happening. We had numerous checks and controls in place, we were subjected to regular and thorough audits of processes and procedures.

“It was only when legislation changes came in that required new checks, as well as his changes in behaviour, that the fraud was found. We are confident that this was an isolated incident by a man with a serious problem.

"He stole public money, which could have been used to pay for essential services and we want to reassure the public that the money will be recuperated in full, and we have new systems in place to prevent this from happening in the future.

“We have a zero tolerance approach to fraud and all of our staff are aware of this.” At his sentencing hearing, Doig’s defence counsel said he felt “truly embarrassed and ashamed” of his actions, adding gambling had led him down a “long and dark path”.