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Dismay as swindler’s helpers escape charges
PROSECUTORS have dropped cases against bank account holders who received money from council swindler John Baptiste, the disgraced finance chief who confessed to stealing more than £600,000 from Camden’s most vulnerable residents.
The Town Hall said the decision not to press charges against other suspects was out of its hands. Baptiste, 57, has already been told that he will go to prison when he appears at Wood Green Crown Court next month.
He admitted stealing £620,000 from accounts he was supposed to be looking after on behalf of elderly and mentally ill residents unable to deal with their own financial affairs.
Investigators said the scam could not have been carried out without outside help – but the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed it is not pursuing anybody else in relation to the fraud.
It is understood detectives have struggled to prove that the bank account holders who received money were explicitly aware that it was being transferred illegally.
Privately, some council chiefs are understood to be disappointed that the cases have not been followed up.
The line from the council is that the toughest penalty possible should be meted out to a swindler who stole from people who had little opportunity to detect the fraud. One source said: “No other charges were brought but the fraud was perpetrated by using third party accounts.
“The CPS felt that it was not in the public interest to take action against the account holders. I should emphasise this was the view of the CPS.”
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