Page 193 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

194 Deception at Work
• Do you have to administer a caution – but only in cases where criminal prosecution is con-

templated – to comply with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act? Chances are, unless you
are a full time investigator, you can forget about cautions.
• Can you tape record with or without the subject’s knowledge?
• Are there disciplinary or other procedures that must be followed?
You should also think about the benefits of obtaining a letter from senior management au-
thorizing you to investigate and conduct interviews8.

Align management’s expectations

You should ensure that senior managers fully understand the case and the time and cost that
may be involved in investigation it. Many who watch television mistakenly believe that all
investigations can be completed within 60 minutes including commercial breaks. This is
far from the truth. The investigation should be independently conducted by Internal Audit,
Corporate Security, the police or consultants and line managers should be prohibited from
interfering. Ideally, this fact should be made clear, before the event, in a fraud policy.

Managers are usually woefully misinformed about fraud

Conclusions

The level of planning recommended in this chapter will ensure that tough interviews that
form part of an investigation are given the greatest chance of success, comply with the law
and get to the deep truth. The next step is to plan each interview carefully.

8 Providing this does not alert the suspect to your interest in him