Fraud case a one-off: AMP

AMP says a former staff member who stole nearly $500,000 was an isolated case.

Wednesday, March 6th 2013, 3:38PM

by Susan Edmunds

Lady Bernadette Cooper, 35, was jailed for two years and two months after pleading guilty to theft in a special relationship, accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, false accounting and money laundering.

Lady is her first name.

She had worked for Assure, which was taken over by Axa then merged with AMP and was made a team leade rin 2011.

Part of her job was to transfer money from client portfolios to management accounts and to external bank accounts.   She discovered she could transfer funds to her personal bank accounts.

AMP wrote in an  email to advisers: “Fraud prevention is something we take very seriously. This was an isolated case of fraud by a dishonest employee that was uncovered as a result of a strengthening of internal control processes.”

It said one customer was affected and the money had been refunded. “[We] have taken steps to reduce the chances of this happening again. What’s important is that we took immediate action by calling in the Police and cooperating fully with their investigation following an internal inquiry and the dismissal of the employee.”

AMP is reportedly intended to pursue Cooper in a civil court.

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