FRAUD detectives have swooped on the Basingstoke headquarters of world-leading banknote maker De La Rue.

Officers from the City of London Police's anti-corruption unit raided business premises belonging to De La Rue - in Basingstoke, Overton and Bedfordshire - last Friday, as part of a joint investigation with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Jina Roe, press officer for the SFO, confirmed that there was an ongoing investigation into corruption, which had involved searches at De La Rue premises in Hampshire and Bedfordshire, but that no arrests had been made.

The SFO only investigates complex and serious cases and the value of the alleged fraud must be over £1million or of widespread public concern.

In a statement, De La Rue - which has its group corporate head office in Jays Close, Viables, Basingstoke - said it believed the allegations that have sparked the investigation came from a "former employee against whom the company has obtained a judgement for the recovery of monies stolen from it".

A spokesman for De La Rue told The Gazette that the former employee was a manager working at a company office in Dunstable.

Reports in national newspapers have said that De La Rue won a High Court order against a former senior manager at its Security Paper and Print division last year, which ordered the employee to return about £500,000 that De La Rue alleged had been defrauded from the company over a period of 10 years.

The company maintains any allegations made by the former employee are false, and it believes a criminal investigation into the alleged theft by the former employee is under way.

The De La Rue spokesman said the raids focused on documents and that papers were taken from some of the offices.

The company statement said: "We are confident that the matter will be resolved quickly and we are co-operating fully to ensure a swift resolution."

As well as having its headquarters in Basingstoke, the company, which has bases all over the world, has several other offices in the area including a security paper production site in Overton and a holographic department based in Daneshill Industrial Estate in Basingstoke.