George Staple QC, Clifford Chance partner and chairman of leading independent watchdog the Fraud Advisory Panel (FAP), has called for the Government to make fraud a priority for the nation’s police.

“Fraud is not one of the Government’s priorities, yet authoritative estimates of sums lost through fraud range up to £12bn per year,” said the former head of the Serious Fraud Office, which launched the FAP’s annual report today.