In this week’s Bulletin, you’ll read that fraudulent activities were uncovered last year by our Internal Audit Service. CERN has a very clearly defined policy in such cases: we base our efforts on prevention through education, we have a policy of protecting those reporting fraud from recrimination, and we have a zero-tolerance policy should fraud be uncovered.

I don’t intend to enter into the details of what occurred, but I’d like to remind you that fraud is a very grave business, and something we take extremely seriously.

What do we mean by fraud at CERN? Operational Circular No. 10 on “Principles and procedures governing the investigation of fraud” [PDF] defines fraud in terms of any deception intended to benefit the perpetrator, or a third party, that results in a loss to the Organization. This loss can be to funds, property or reputation.

Thankfully, fraud at CERN is a rare occurrence, but we should never be complacent. So please take the time to familiarise yourselves with OC10 and, should you have any doubts, talk to your hierarchy, the head of the HR Department, or the Internal Audit Service.

While what occurred is deeply regrettable, it has allowed us to identify the weak spots that allowed such fraud to happen, and therefore help to ensure that a similar incident will be less likely in the future.