Perils in Purchasing: Fraudulent Activities by a Telecoms Manager

(Editor’s note: The author, an internal auditor and fraud examiner, has changed the identities of those involved in this recent case.)  

John Williams was a telecoms (telephone communications) manager for a manufacturing company in Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria. An electronic engineering graduate, he was considered an expert and had been with the company for eight years, beginning as a supervisor and quickly rising to the managerial position within a few years. Company management considered Williams a “flyer” who had all the attributes of one day becoming the telecoms department’s general manager.

As part of his normal activities, Williams ordered and procured telecoms materials for the company, which involved purchasing phones and carrying out repairs on aging equipment, such as private automatic branch exchange (PABX) systems and phone cables. He was responsible not only for the company’s head office in Lagos, but also for two other Nigerian branch offices.