The tax office was conned out of €19.5m last year in a single payment fraud because its internal checks missed the signs.

A tax office worker who regularly organised the repayment of large sums to companies was able to put together the €19.5m by playing the system.

The Fiod tax investigation service has since investigated the fraud and the Telegraaf has obtained its report.

Once the money was acquired within the tax office system, the 52-year-old Egon D sent it in one payment to the Rabobank, where the fraud was also missed.

The Rabobank account was that of a friend of D’s who sent the money on to the two Turkish bank accounts of his brother-in-law.

Too late

A week after the transaction, the fraud department at the Rabobank noticed the suspect sum. By then, the Turkish brother-in-law had cashed in €1.3m and turned €lm into gold bars.

The tax office has now seized the rest of the money, but the Turk is bringing a court case against the seizure. He says he knows nothing about the fraud and borrowed the money from his brother-in-law.

Egon D, who had hoped to move to Greece and live in luxury, was arrested last August.