Specialist investigators could be brought in to track down the thousands of unknown victims of an Aberdeen City Council embezzler – as only 100 have been traced so far.
Crooked Mike Paterson, 60, was jailed for four years in July 2024 after stealing more than £1 million over 17 years.
Employed at Aberdeen City Council, he had unrestricted access to council tax accounts, enabling him to embezzle funds – which went towards his lavish lifestyle.
Beginning in 2006, the former Torry Academy pupil’s scam was eventually uncovered by a council employee in September 2023.
How many people did Paterson pilfer from?
Paterson was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh months ago, but many of his victims have yet to be compensated.
His long-running deceit involved 5,700 council tax accounts.
Despite many hours of dedicated research, progress has been slow in uncovering his full list of victims.
A report put before councillors in February indicated that 1,908 accounts had been checked, totalling £563,434- which is 51% of his ill-gotten fortune.
Of those, the council has partial details for 597 accounts and has so far contacted around 100 people who are eligible for a refund.
This accounts for only 2% of the victims.
So what will happen next?
During a council meeting, Councillor M Tauqeer Malik described the fraud as “elaborate”, saying this was why it went undetected for so long.
It was also noted that at the time of his arrest, Paterson was in debt, casting doubt over whether the council will ever be able to recover money from the swindler.
Council finance chief Jonathan Belford said they had referred the issue to their insurers and were awaiting a decision.
Labour’s Kate Blake raised concerns about tracking down people who may have left the city without a forwarding address.
Mr Belford responded: “What we have found is that some people have returned to the city, allowing us to connect their accounts.
“We have also been able to make progress with bank accounts still held in the individuals’ names.
“In terms of going further, it is very difficult…”
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Praise for whistleblower who rumbled Paterson
Mr Belford added that one option could be to bring in specialist investigators to help trace victims.
He added: “In terms of going further, it is very difficult.
“One option is that we would be looking to specialist investigators for that, and looking at the cost of finding people.”
Mr Belford also admitted that some of the accounts Paterson stole from were dormant ones that remained in credit, making it harder to locate the original account holders.
Council bosses are prioritising current Aberdeen account holders, ensuring they are compensated “appropriately and speedily” before addressing dormant accounts.
The councillors praised the individual who first raised suspicions about Paterson.
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