At the heart of the issue, as you arrived at, is that our researchers are constantly under pressure to meet some funding goal, constantly looking for their next grant to continue work. This pressure should not exist. It is my belief that, in absence of that pressure, whatever 'fraud' is happening will no longer need to exist. Of all things, researchers should not need to be worried about funding.

As a researcher, although I love the idea of a pressure-free job, I'm also keenly aware that I'm being paid by tax money and therefore should be accountable for my productivity (or lack thereof). I would rather have more robust review of research activities, and reliable consequences for misconduct, than freedom from financial pressure.

I am also somewhat skeptical that removing funding pressure will reduce fraud. It may reduce the amount of show publications, i.e, work that doesn't really make any progress but isn't wrong either. But in my experience outright falsification of results comes from entitlement. A fraudster feels that they entitled to a certain level of achievement and recognition for it, and are willing to make something up when they're not getting that recognition. I believe that the pressure that drives a person to commit fraud is internal, not external.