The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

More than $5 million worth of cash and goods were stolen from Bahamian businesses in the 379 cases reported to the police during 2014, it was revealed yesterday.

The annual crime statistics, disclosed by Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), showed that the bulk of these losses related to fraud and workers stealing from their employers.

According to RBPF data, of the $5.118 million in losses covered by the 379 cases it investigated, some 45 per cent or $2.296 million related to fraud complaints.

Of the remainder, 42 per cent or $2.163 million related to ‘stealing by reason of employment’, while the remaining 13 per cent - some $658,239 - was bound up in complaints of ‘stealing by reason of service’.

So-called ‘white collar crime’ is often overlooked amid crime headlines that tend to focus on murder, rape and other violent offences, but it is a persistent ‘drag’ on companies and the wider Bahamian economy.

All too-often, the burden created by dishonest employees is carried by their fellow workers and employers, with consumers also bearing the extra costs through having to pay higher prices to help cover such losses.

‘Internal theft’ provides a disincentive to further business investment and job creation, with numerous entrepreneurs lamenting to Tribune Business over the years how their businesses are held back by an inability to find honest, sufficiently-qualified labour.

And, while the more than $5 million sum covered by complaints submitted to the police is a significant amount, many observers will likely argue it represents the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that total losses suffered annually by Bahamian businesses as a result of such crimes reach a much higher amount, with many companies declining to prosecute dishonest employees for fear of bad publicity or other reasons.

Meanwhile, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said of the 379 business and technology-related crimes reported to it last year, some 205 were completed investigations to give a detection rate of 54 per cent.

The 379 complaints resulted in 239 persons being arrested, of whom some 134 were charged, producing a 56 per cent charge rate. Most of those arrested and charged were men, who accounted for 62 and 63 per cent, respectively.

Breaking the 379 cases reported to it by type, the RBPF said fraud accounted for the greatest percentage of complaints, standing at 32 per cent or 121.

Next highest was ‘stealing by reason of employment’, with the 107 cases accounting for 28 per cent of the total. ‘Stealing by reason of service’ was next, at 23 per cent or 88 cases, while ‘possession of a forged document’ totalled 58 cases for a 15 per cent share.

In turn, the greatest number of persons arrested for ‘white collar crimes’ related to fraud or attempted fraud, with 85 persons taken into custody for a 35 per cent share.

Some 31 per cent of those arrested, totalling 74 persons, were taken into police custody for ‘stealing by reason of employment, while another 27 per cent or 65 were arrested for allegedly possessing a forged document.

Elsewhere, the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) dealt with the forfeiture of some $4.322 million in seized funds last year. It also took control of another $487,000 in suspected criminal proceeds.

Eighteen persons were arrested in relation to 19 ‘Proceeds of Crime’ cases, and another 12 taken into custody for the attempting to export ‘restricted goods’. Some 40 ‘suspicious’ transactions were also reported to the police in 2014.

The RBPF also seized just over $19,000 in counterfeit money, broken down almost evenly into $9,990 in Bahamian dollars and $9,078 in US dollars.

“Counterfeit remains a burden on the business community, which continues to result in the loss of profit and merchandise,” Commissioner Greenslade said yesterday, pledging more seminars and workshops to improve its detection.