National Crime Agency must probe allegations of systemic document tampering and manipulation by banks, says MP

Kevin Hollinrake, the co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking (APPG), has accused the NCA of displaying a "woeful lack of proactivity" on the issue of banking forgery.

In a statement, the APPG said; "This is yet another symptom of the broader malaise in the UK's approach to tackling Economic Crime."

However, an NCA spokesman said it took the matter seriously and would be notifying relevant parties in the near future.

In 2019, the APPG wrote to Lynne Owens, the director general of the National Crime Agency, to express concerns about allegations surrounding "organised industrial scale bank signature forgery".

In the letter, which was signed by Mr Hollinrake, the APPG said that these allegations were relatively straightforward to investigate.

The letter said that, in the US, allegations about bank forgery had been investigated by all 50 state attorney generals, resulting in penalty payments by US banks of $25bn.

At the time, members of the APPG said they had received “frequent and consistent representations” from constituents with concerns over the forgery of signatures.

As a result the APPG, gave its backing to the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign. The campaign encouraged personal and business customers who had received a bank court document from any UK bank or finance company to send a photo or photocopy of the bank signature, along with the name of the bank, to the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign. The campaign also encouraged customers to send in examples of where they felt their signature has been “digitally lifted”.

In an email sent this month to Robert Jones, Director General of the National Crime Agency, Mr Hollinrake said: " It is now over three years since you were asked to investigate by the APPG and the Treasury Select Committee. What I want, in writing, is a clear understanding of what investigations you have undertaken."

Mr Hollinrake, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, told The Yorkshire Post: "The lack of enquiry and proactivity is utterly unacceptable."

"In many correspondences and meetings.. the APPG made very clear its concerns regarding the alleged systemic document tampering/manipulation by banks and we were told that this would be investigated."

Mr Hollinrake has called on the NCA to set out what investigations have actually taken place including interviews of potential victims.

An NCA spokesperson said: “The NCA takes this matter seriously. We have reviewed the material from the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign and will be notifying relevant parties of our findings in the near future.”