THE Welsh Assembly Commission fell for a scam which saw £104,000 of public money being paid into a fraudulent bank account, a committee heard today.

South Wales West Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black told public accounts committee members that it is “highly unlikely” the commission will recover the funds, which saw £71,000 being paid into the account in 2013/14 with the rest being paid this year.

He said: “There was a fraudulent incident which is very much regrettable which resulted in £104,00 being paid to a fraudulent bank account.

“The scam we fell for was part of a bigger scheme and hopefully you’ll be reassured that we have responded appropriately.”

Mr Black told the committee that the Assembly Commission, which is the corporate body for the Welsh Assembly, has taken action since becoming aware of the scam by introducing third party verification and has changed their processes to “make sure it won’t happen again”.

He added that the commission has been re-assured this is an isolated incident and is being investigated by police and an arrest has been made.

A Welsh Assembly spokesman said they will not be commenting on the incident, other than to say the police are investigating.