THE Serious Fraud Office has axed some of its own staff — for fraud.

The dodgy employees are among dozens disciplined by the organisation in recent years, an investigation found.

The embarrassing disclosure follows fierce criticism of the SFO over the collapse of a series of multi-million pound prosecutions, including one against senior bosses at Tesco.

Records obtained under Freedom of Information laws show two staff have been sacked for dishonesty since 2016, while another was fired for falsifying timesheets.

Two others got the boot for poor attendance, and several were given warnings after accusations of serious wrongdoing.

One worker was handed a final written warning over sexual harassment allegations.

Since 2015 there have been 29 disciplinary cases at the SFO, records show.

A spokesman said: “Serious misconduct by SFO staff is rare but once identified it is dealt with swiftly and fairly under our long-established and robust procedures.”