POINTING the finger

It seems that people don't like to hear about their neighbours ripping off the welfare system anymore. The Department of Social Welfare have reported a record increase in the number of tip-offs from members of the public about suspected welfare fraud up from 1,044 in 2008 to 5,600 in 2009 (Read here).
If only the same civic spirit existed in the banking sector then the currently long, slow and painful process of investigation into Anglo Irish Bank might be going a bit a quicker.
These are some the issues that may be touched on by Transparency International's seminar next Monday in Dublin on the topic of protecting whistleblowers. Speakers include former AIB auditor Eugene McErlean and Bernadette Sullivan a former nurse at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Anglo phish

There's something strangely ironic about phishing for account details from Anglo Irish Bank. The Irish government have already spent €4 billion trying to keep the bank afloat. The Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation are investigating allegations of circular transactions. This week it also emerged the Serious Fraud Office were called in to check out some transactions through its London offices. On top of that the bank had to write off €4.7 million invested with a Madoff scheme. The fraudsters better watch out, they could get saddled with some of the €28 billion in bad loans the bank made. If you're gonna phish a bank, I'd start somewhere else.