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404 An HR Guide to Workplace Fraud and Criminal Behaviour

As ordinary folk we are in the firing line and if any human wants an easy life he should
become a lawyer or politician or, if he is clever enough, a judge: now that is a really good job.
True the pay is not great but the perks, such as unrestricted ability to kick ass and having your
jokes always laughed at definitely are.

Finally, remember that courts are the lawyers’ hunting ground and that witnesses are their
next meal. Lawyers always win, whatever the outcome. But every dog has its day and that’s
why this chapter has been just a little bit rude to lawyers.

Witnesses are to lawyers what plankton is to whales

Learning the lessons

In the days and weeks after the case you will have time to reflect on your experience and, if
you are a senior manager, you may conclude that you never want to see a court again. This
is understandable, but please think. You have two courses. The first is to opt out, let crooks
and ne’er do wells escape by not prosecuting them: this is a poor decision that will only make
your organization’s fraud and other problems worse. The second is to accept that the only
reason you were called to give evidence was because your case gave the bad guys the chance
to squirm. This is the real lesson.

If you can build an overwhelming case that leaves your opponents with no room for ma-
noeuvre, you can prevail, leading them to plead guilty or capitulate. In this way, you avoid
having to attend as a witness, save money, time and still succeed. You can do this by:

• having a fraud policy and contingency plan which sets out precisely how you will react
when fraud is suspected, how the case will be investigated and by whom;

• having professional investigators work with you, who are expert interviewers and who can
find the whole truth before going to court.

Lastly, and most importantly, you must have the best, most blood-curdling litigation lawyers
on your side. If they are good, their reaction may be that you don’t need investigators, but
please think about this. Good investigators work with lawyers to produce overwhelming evi-
dence before the matter gets to court. This saves time, aggravation and, of course, legal fees.

In major cases, your contingency plan should ensure that a senior line manager (who was
not responsible for the area in which the loss occurred) is put in charge of a project team in-
cluding lawyers and investigators. He can decide upon the relative merits of their arguments
and, of course, if the lawyers and investigators still cannot agree, take the decision to fire the
lawyers!

Conclusions

The one thing most witnesses agree upon is that the experience in the court or tribunal was
not the happiest of their lives. Chances are, if the investigation had been conducted properly,
the need to be called as a witness could have been avoided. This is the ultimate lesson.