Oxfam’s former head of counter-fraud, has this morning been jailed for two years and five months for stealing nearly £65,000 from the charity while investigating misconduct by aid workers in earthquake-hit Haiti.
In March of this year, Edward McKenzie-Green pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to making £64,612.58 in payments from Oxfam to fictitious firms between February and December 2011.
His crimes were discovered by an internal inquiry at Oxfam into his unprofessional behaviour on leading a team of six into Haiti in 2011. Investigators discovered he had filed 17 bogus invoices from two companies over nine months.
McKenzie-Green had resigned in 2011 with a £29,000 ‘golden handshake’, according to the Witney Gazette. After his arrest, he alleged he was the victim of a conspiracy among senior staff at Oxfam.
Jailing McKenzie-Green for two years and five months today, Judge Wendy Joseph told him: "The consequences of your conduct are grave indeed. You have taken from those who desperately need it substantial sums of money.
"Worse, you have undermined the public confidence in a charitable institution. You were head of a department set up to counter fraud. This was a profound abuse of the trust invested in you."
Phillip Dunn, a senior counter-fraud official at Oxfam, was quoted in the Witney Gazette as saying the case had damaged the reputation of the charity.
He said: "Oxfam is trying to become a world leader in counter-fraud investigation and to have the head of counter fraud contribute to that is immeasurably damaging."
McKenzie-Green's barrister Matthew Sherrat told the court that his defendant had a serious addiction to prescription medication and was having marital problems. "He was involved in quite a high pressure job. He had a very good career and had enjoyed a responsible position. He suffered a break-down and was moved to a psychiatric hospital."
He added: “He was putting money aside effectively in the expectation of losing his job,” the barrister added.
The court heard that his wife and child have left him as a result of his behaviour.
Oliver May, Oxfam’s head of counter-fraud said: “Oxfam uses donations from the British people to help eradicate poverty and suffering across the world. For someone to commit fraud and use that money for their own selfish gains is clearly unacceptable.
“We will now work to try and recover the money taken.
“Since this incident we have reinforced our strict background checks on future employees and introduced measures to prevent this from being able to happen again."
