About Blind Bats
Blind Bats Incorporated, is a not-for-profit organisation which is funded by donations and government grants. Their aim is to assist visually impaired people to become more inclusive participants in the community through playing cricket. Leading up to this investigation, the company was due to receive over $400, 000 worth of government funding.
not-for-profit organisation
Moreton Bay, Queensland
Volunteer services
rumours of fraud
Soon after appointing a senior staff member who was responsible for Blind Bat’s finances, rumours began to spread within the company which indicated that the new staff member would be elected as the next club president at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, thereby taking over management of the organisation. The rumours also indicated that the new staff member was running his own business in the National Disability Insurance Support (NDIS) sector and that he was attempting to recruit members of the organisation with fraudulent financial incentives that were significantly detrimental to the members who were considered extremely vulnerable people due to their disability. Furthermore, although the person of interest had claimed to have never been bankrupt in the past, it was suspected that this might not be true.
With the rumours circulating within the club, it was believed that the entire future of the club was in jeopardy, and that the vulnerable members were at risk of exploitation. To circumvent this risk, Blind Bats decided to protect the organisation and its members by engaging a professional, licensed and independent investigation company (ANSIC Pty Ltd) to investigate the rumours.
ANSIC commences an investigation
To create a stable environment for the duration of the investigation, two interim positions were appointed to the board of Blind Bats Inc. until the AGM was held. Once it was agreed that an overt investigations methodology would be used to conduct the investigation (witness interviews), the investigation commenced. The investigator took written statements, secured documentary evidence, provided verbal briefings and prepared a substantial complaint to the NDIS based upon the conduct of the person of interest. Due to the client being sight impaired, numerous attendances to host personal meetings with the client were also made to ease the process.
Our investigation identified the following:
- It was discovered that despite having previously claimed to have never been bankrupt, the person of interest had been bankrupt on four occasions.
- Legal letters presented by the person of interest claiming to be working with four different lawyers and threatening legal action against the company appeared to have been falsified for the purposes of slowing down the investigation.
- The person of interest had committed serious criminal fraud against the NDIS.
At the conclusion of our investigation, we recommended engaging the services of an independent auditor to provide the required audit prior to the next AGM and provided the client with a detailed report of our findings that enabled their new board to make decisions with respect to the future of their organisation.
THE RESULTS
The investigation identified tangible evidence required by the instructing agent to make lawful decisions that protected both the organisation and its members from the unlawful conduct of the person of interest. In doing so, justice was administered for the company.
The misuse and fraudulent production of invoices worth more than $57,000 was reported to the NDIS Fraud and Non-Compliance Hotline as well as the Qld Police Service. In addition, over $400,000 worth of future government funding was protected from potentially being mismanaged by someone who had committed fraud.
As a result of the findings, the person of interest resigned from his position at Blind Bats and the other sight-impaired members were protected from potential exploitation.