18:10pm 17th April 2005 .
MailonLine
Three people have been arrested over allegations that they siphoned off nearly £1 million from the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Fraud officers were called in after it emerged that
£850,000 had gone missing from John Prescott's Government department.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are investigating an allegation of fraud involving a Government department.
Three people - a man and two women - were arrested on April 5 and subsequently bailed to return on a date in May. Inquiries continue.
"It appears that the offences occurred over a seven-month period beginning in January 2004. This involved hundreds of thousands of pounds."
It was understood that one or more of the three may have worked within the department. The man and one of the women were a married couple.
The News of the World reported that the fraud involved a ghost company with a serious of cheques sent to a fictitious employee.
Detectives will be interviewing staff at the department and have not ruled out speaking to Mr Prescott.
An ODPM spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that an alleged case of serious fraud is currently being investigated by the police and as a result we are unable to comment further on this case.
"However, we can confirm that none of our programmes of work have been compromised."
