BT denies “culture of fraud” allegations

BT denies “culture of fraud” allegations

BT has refuted comments from a judge that there may be a “culture of fraud” at its broadband subsidiary, Openreach.




The claim was made at the sentencing of 53 year-old-engineer Phillip Tamplin last week who had defrauded £154,000 from BT to support his mistress in Argentina.


However, a BT spokesperson said: “In an organisation of more than 33,000 people there will always be a few bad apples, but this isolated case proves we’re effective at catching and prosecuting wrongdoers.”


Tamplin is not the first engineer to swindle money from the national network operator, whose fraudulent activity involved false parking fines for Openreach vans.


Sentencing remarks stated that Tamplin “well knew how open the organisation was to fraudulent activity”, and that many employees appear to know “how it could be conducted, concealed and be made to benefit” each worker. 


“It is said there was a culture of fraud – that may or may not have been the case,” the statement concluded. 


In December last year, BT put in a surprise £12.5 billion bid for O2, raising questions over what the operator will now do with its Openreach arm.



Gift this article