Thanet council waits for police to consider ‘fraud’ allegation
0Kent Police are deciding whether to launch an investigation after a government probe found evidence of fraud at Thanet District Council relating to £150,000 of European funding for improvements to the Port of Ramsgate.
The Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) this week reported that the council had claimed money in 2008 and 2009 for capital dredging works that were never carried out.
A decision to add the money to a council budget for spending on other port improvements was then signed off within the council.
The investigation was carried out after a whistleblower brought the matter to the attention of European anti-fraud authorities. The funds had been granted by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The GIAA report said: “The whistleblower provided the GIAA investigation team with a report and internal correspondence which suggested council officers (who are no longer employed) made a decision to retain ERDF funding knowing dredging works carried out during the project period had been financed within existing budgets and that the works carried out were not those required under the conditions of ERDF funding.”
It recommended that the authority should consider reporting its findings to the police as a potential fraud case.
“There is sufficient evidence in our view of intent to defraud,” the report said.
The council had originally claimed the money for capital dredging works to allow larger ferries to use the port.
But the GIAA said: “The project claims compiled by [deleted] and authorised (verifying expenditure) by [deleted] were a deliberate action to claim European Regional Development Fund grant knowing the costs were for other activities not approved for the ERDF project.
“Thereafter, Thanet District Council officials made a deliberate decision not to refund the ERDF grant when it was clear it had not been used for the purposes intended.
“It will be a matter for the police as to whether they agree with this judgement.”
The investigators found that the council could provide no evidence of a project plan, cost analysis or details of a planned dredging campaign, including a dredging survey, specific to the ERDF project. Also, the project had no separate budget or cost code for expenditure within the council’s accounting records.
A statement released on behalf of the authority said: “Thanet District Council has been working closely with the GIAA since being approached in October 2015. The council ensured that the GIAA had access to all the information required and have answered any questions.
“The grant claim was made over eight years ago. Since then, the council has introduced new processes and procedures within its finance function; including the introduction of a dedicated external funding officer and the implementation of an external funding protocol which was recently updated in June 2015.
“The council has also commissioned an independent review by East Kent Audit Partnership to assess the internal controls in respect of externally funded projects.”
The council said that, in accordance with council policy, the matter had also been referred to Kent Police.
A spokesman for Kent Police said: “This was originally reported to Kent Police in 2013 when a decision was made that there was insufficient evidence of criminality to commence an investigation at that time.
“However in light of the recently published Government report, the circumstances will be revisited to establish whether there is now sufficient evidence to commence an investigation.”
