Whistle blowing?

[whistle]

I am currently contracting at a large company working mainly with government departments and part of my role is to scrutinise supplier performance and contracts. In the course of my work, I came across a significant tax fraud (around £1m) being undertaken by one of our long-standing suppliers, and brought this to the attention of the Finance Director. He investigated and agrees that there was almost certainly a fraud being perpetrated by the supplier, and instructed us to terminate them immediately which we have done. However, he does not want to notify the tax authorities as he is concerned that the company should have spotted this before or that it will in some way reflect badly on us especially with our close links to government.

I am not happy with this as I spotted the tax fraud and if it comes to light in the future that we knew and didn't say anything, I don't want to cop the blame for it. I think we should make a report to the authorities and assume they will be see us as the good guys. We had absolutely nothing to do with the fraud, it was totally down to their accounting practices. Also I don't think it is right morally to allow them to continue to get away with this. But if I go behind their back and make a report myself, I am also worried that they will terminate my contract and potentually I will get a poor reference from them. If I were a permanent employee I would have whistleblowing protection but I doubt anything like this exists for contractors (working through limited companies rather than as "temporary workers")

I would really appreciate any advice anyone has.

[malvolio]

I believe there's a confidential phone line for reporting such things...

[washed up contractor]

The Whistle Blower's Charter is not worth the paper it is written on. A few whistle blowers have found out to their cost.

If you are going to blow the whistle be prepared to be hunted down by the client and hung out to dry. It is not your company and you can use plausible reasons for not taking this further if anything came of it.

End of the day, it is up to you. Are you prepared for the potential excrement storm if this did come out and the finger being pointed at you however unjust that may be?

[BrilloPad]

I think you are right to be concerned. Whistle blowers often get pulled up for daring to speak out. However if there are consequences for not speaking out, they get pulled up anyway.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

And I think that is the case if you are contract or permanent. I still believe I was sacked by a big IB for mental health issues and they covered it up.

Stuff the moral question. Ignore that. You need to look after YOURSELF.

Do you have all the paperwork somewhere safe?

How did you bring this to the attention of FD? Do you have email proof? If not, could you get him to repeat what he said while you covertly record it?

If you call the helpline, report it anonymously, then there may be an investigation. And your company may be dragged down with it.

I suggest 3 ways forward: -
1. Get proof(written or recording) you have passed this onto FD. Then if there is any blowback you are covered. You might be able to use this to get better pay rises!
2. Call the helpline Mal suggested. Tell them what you have anonymously. Arrange to meet them and get a guarantee you will get anonymity in return for passing over what you have. Probably not so good as HMRC are sneaky and known for resiling - just for fun.
3. Go above the FD's head(probably a very bad idea).

Personally I would do number 1. And any extra pay rises I would use to buy the suggestor of the idea drinks at the next CUK meet up.
BP

[SteelyDan]

Do you have all the paperwork somewhere safe?

How did you bring this to the attention of FD? Do you have email proof? If not, could you get him to repeat what he said while you covertly record it?

If you call the helpline, report it anonymously, then there may be an investigation. And your company may be dragged down with it.

I suggest 3 ways forward: -
1. Get proof(written or recording) you have passed this onto FD. Then if there is any blowback you are covered. You might be able to use this to get better pay rises!
2. Call the helpline Mal suggested. Tell them what you have anonymously. Arrange to meet them and get a guarantee you will get anonymity in return for passing over what you have.
3. Dress up in ridiculous secret agent garb, wear a flower in buttonhole, & use the password 'red squirrel'

FTFY
FFS

[HugeWhale]

This is not about whistleblowing - it's about reporting a crime. And £1M tax fraud is taken very seriously indeed. People go to prison for many years for this kind of figure.

A crime has been committed.
You are aware that a crime has been committed.
You are concealing that a crime has been committed.
You are an accessory after the fact. And so is the FD.

"A person can generally be charged with accessory after the fact, or aiding and abetting, if he or she wasn't actually present during the commission of a crime, but took actions to conceal the crime …"

If this is all going to come out, then YOU could well end up in prison. It is that serious. The defence that "I reported the criminal offence to the FD rather than the police" probably won't hold much sway with the criminal justice system, and don't think that the FD wouldn't throw you under a bus if inspector knacker came calling, because he would.

Bollux to the FD and look after yourself. Report it.

[mattfx]

As BP said, step one is to protect yourself. Recorded conversation with the FD or a follow up email getting him to say "no, I don't want you to do anything with this" in writing.

Then as HW said, report it. If it was a few quid it may not be worth losing your contract over however, £1m is a serious amount of money and, if you've noticed it, chances are someone else at another clientco may well have too. If they dob them in before you do, then they come looking at your clientco's accounts as a result of you being all over their ledgers, you're directly in the firing line.

I'd start looking at options for other contracts - the market appears to be having a nice little bump of post Christmas jobs at the moment so a good time to be looking!

[PerfectStorm]

Remember if you do any client-mandated training on fraud and related topics, the advice that gives you may not actually be enough to keep you legal. It tends to side with not telling the regulator stuff which you might want to.

[northernladyuk]

Go down your local cop shop and report it to the desk officer. Get a crime number. Job done.

By the way, are you an accountant or similar professional which may give you additional obligations?

[Eirikur]

Leak the documents to a newspaper