RIPA for Heros
MoD spends £426,000 spying on injured soldiers - Telegraph
Officials used counter-terrorism powers to carry out secret filming on hundreds of wounded personnel to check whether they are exaggerating or lying in their compensation claims.
It is being carried out under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), originally intended to help the police and MI5 monitor terrorists in the UK.
Injured servicemen and women are warned that they could be filmed in letters to their solicitors.
It emerged in July that the MoD had carried out covert filming on 284 people who claimed for compensation since 2000, about one per cent of all injury compensation claims.
Papers released to the Daily Mirror under the Freedom of Information Act show that the exercise has cost £426,000, about £1,500 for each serviceman subject to surveillance.
Although the MoD said that the tactic had saved "millions" of pounds, the newspaper said that only three claims had been rejected outright as a result of the surveillance.
Swinging the lead has a long tradition in the Army (it is a calumnious phrase they blacken the Senior Service with) but does the use of anti-terrorism powers against wounded servicemen feel right to you?